Space Launch System
Also known as SLS
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person Orion spacecraft for missions to the Moon, on a trans-lunar injection trajectory. The rocket first launched on November 16, 2022, carrying the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Its first crewed launch was for the Artemis II lunar flyby on April 1, 2026, becoming the second launch vehicle to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), after NASA's Saturn V of the Apollo program, and the third to ever be planned to fly humans past LEO, after the N1.
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Key facts
- Function
- Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
- Manufacturer
- Aerojet Rocketdyne Boeing Northrop Grumman United Launch Alliance
- Country of origin
- United States
- Project cost
- US$ 31.6 billion as of 2025 (excluding Orion)
- Cost per launch
- US$2.5 billion (excluding Orion)
- Cost per year
- US$2.6 billion ( FY 23) (excluding Orion)
- Height
- 98 m (322 ft)
- Diameter
- 8.4 m (27.6 ft)
- Mass
- 2,610,000 kg (5,750,000 lb)
- Stages
- 2½
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Article
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person Orion spacecraft for missions to the Moon, on a trans-lunar injection trajectory. The rocket first launched in November 2022, carrying the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Its first crewed launch was for the Artemis II lunar flyby in April 2026, becoming the second launch vehicle to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), after NASA's Saturn V of the Apollo program.
Development of SLS began in 2011 as a congressionally mandated replacement for the retiring Space Shuttle program and the cancelled Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles of the Constellation program, incorporating some hardware from both programs. Costing US$31.6 billion as of 2025, the project has been criticized for mismanagement, budget overruns, and delays, but ultimately succeeded in human spaceflight in 2026.