NASA’s Giant Moon Rocket Emerges for Debut Launch

NASA’s Giant Moon Rocket Emerges for Debut Launch
NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 1 rocket with its Orion crew capsule stands on launch pad 39B as workers depart at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 17, 2022. Steve Nesius/Reuters
Reuters
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NASA’s gigantic Space Launch System moon rocket, topped with an uncrewed astronaut capsule, began an hours-long crawl to its launchpad Tuesday night ahead of the behemoth’s debut test flight this month.

The 322-foot-tall rocket is scheduled to embark on its first mission to space–without any humans—on Aug. 29. It will be a crucial, long-delayed demonstration trip to the moon for NASA’s Artemis program, the United States’ multibillion-dollar effort to return humans to the lunar surface as practice for future missions to Mars.