​NASA is transporting the largest rocket to date, the SLS system, to the launch pad in a huge transporter, which, as the first mission of the Artemis program, will send the Orion capsule into orbit around the Moon. The Orion capsule will NOT have a crew on board and is scheduled to launch on August 29. Humans will return to the moon probably in 2026.

SLS (Space Launch System) has already been pulled out of the hangar for the third time and is being transported on a giant conveyor platform to the launch pad. The 6 km long journey will take about 12 hours.

After the huge rocket reaches the launch pad, NASA technicians have a lot of work to do, checking all systems and making final adjustments to the launch tower.

• Why is NASA moving so slowly? The SLS rocket’s path to the moon is long and difficult. A new step has been taken, but not 100%.

The rocket was removed from the Vehicle Assembly Building hangar and delivered to the launch pad of Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center (Florida). The SLS system was removed from the hangar and taken to the launch pad twice more: in April and June for a series of static tests and refueling of the tanks, but each time there were problems.

NASA is very careful with the SLS megarocket, which is almost 100 meters tall and weighs 2.6 million kg. Static refueling tests failed in April, the rocket was taken to a hangar and, after a series of repairs and inspections, returned to the LC-39B launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in June.

However, in April, three attempts to fill the tanks with more than 3 million liters of liquid oxygen and hydrogen failed due to several problems, including one involving a pipe that caused a hydrogen leak. It goes without saying that everything related to space launches is complicated, and thousands of things have to happen perfectly at the same time.

Artemis 1’s mission will be to send the Orion module on an unmanned journey around the Moon.

Artemis is the program that aims to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972, and this time it will include a woman as well as a person of color.

The first people will reach the moon no earlier than 2026.

The SLS rocket will allow sending payloads from 27 to 46 tons into lunar orbit, and the Ariane 5 rocket will allow sending payloads from 5 to 10 tons into low orbit.