At 1:47 a.m. on 16 November 2022, a thunderous scream ripped across Florida’s Kennedy Space Center as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) tore into the sky, lighting up the night like a firestorm of ambition. It wasn’t a launch—it was a declaration. The ground shook, windows rattled, and jaws dropped. The most powerful rocket NASA has ever built had finally flexed its muscles. But behind the cheers and confetti lies a strange cocktail of politics, patched-up tech, and humanity’s hunger to plant flags where no one has walked for 50 years.
SLS isn’t just a rocket. It’s a supercharged monster built to hurl humans and hardware deep into space—first the Moon, then Mars, and maybe, if someone doesn’t blow up the budget, even beyond. It’s the backbone of the Artemis program, a mission that wants to put boots on lunar dust again.
But let’s be real. This thing didn’t roll off an assembly line quietly. It’s part genius, part Frankenstein’s monster, and 100% extraordinary.
Old Bones, New Power
NASA calls it the Space Launch System. Critics call it Shuttle 2.0. And they’re not wrong.
The core of the SLS is built using tech ripped straight from the bones of the retired Space Shuttle program. Those RS-25 engines? They’re upgraded versions of the same ones that powered shuttles like Atlantis and Endeavour. Engineers slapped on new controllers, bulked up insulation, and pushed them to roar with 512,000 pounds of thrust each. Multiply that by four, and you’ve got two million pounds of firepower.
Add to that two solid rocket boosters the size of 17-storey buildings, chugging down six tonnes of propellant per second, and you’ve got lift-off that feels more like a volcanic eruption.
And what’s fuelling all this madness? A massive core stage packed with 733,000 gallons of super-chilled hydrogen and oxygen, funnelling 1,500 gallons per second to the engines during launch. It’s so massive, Boeing needed the biggest welding machine on Earth just to piece it together.
Meet Orion: The Empty Hero (For Now)
Riding on top of this angry skyscraper is Orion, NASA’s spaceship of choice for hauling humans to the Moon and back. But during Artemis I, it didn’t carry astronauts—just mannequins, sensors, and enough cameras to make it the Kardashian of spacecraft.
Orion is split into three parts: the launch abort system (a high-speed eject button), the crew module (the astronaut’s living space), and the European-built service module that keeps it alive in the void of space. This service module, made by the European Space Agency, comes with four giant solar panels, oxygen tanks, and thrusters—basically the life support system for the whole mission.
Orion didn’t just cruise solo either. Hidden inside its adapter were ten CubeSats—tiny satellites flung into deep space like high-tech confetti, including one brave little box carrying yeast to test how deep space radiation might toast living organisms.
The Rocket That Keeps Morphing
NASA built SLS like a Pokémon—it evolves.
The version that launched Artemis I was Block 1. It’s a beast, sure, but NASA’s already building Block 1B, a bigger, meaner version with an Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) that packs four engines instead of one. That’s almost four times the thrust to throw even more humans, cargo, and political promises at the Moon.
Eventually, SLS will transform into Block 2, a cargo-hauling colossus that’ll lift up to 46 tonnes into deep space. That’s like flinging ten elephants toward the Moon and waving goodbye.
The Billion-Dollar Elephant
Now for the uncomfortable bit. This rocket ain’t cheap.
SLS has cost upwards of $23 billion to develop. Some space fans whisper that NASA could’ve gone commercial—asked SpaceX or Blue Origin for a cheaper ride. But SLS is political. It’s built across all 50 U.S. states, creating jobs and pleasing lawmakers. It’s spaceflight by committee, not just engineering.
Still, nobody cared about the price tag when that giant torch ignited under Artemis I. The skies split open, the roar echoed across oceans, and Earth remembered its place in the universe.
Moon Today, Mars Tomorrow?
NASA says Artemis II will carry humans around the Moon. Artemis III will land them. They want a permanent presence out there—habitats, science labs, Moon buggies with snacks. And when that’s sorted, they’ll start eyeing the big red rock: Mars.
With Boeing churning out hardware for Artemis missions IV and V, and NASA already testing engines for Artemis VI, the SLS isn’t just a rocket—it’s a symbol of what happens when dreams are welded into metal and launched into infinity.
Controversial? Oh yes. Sensational? Definitely. But no one can say it’s ordinary.
