Powerful Version of NASA SLS Rocket
Engineers at #NASA’s Langley Research Center and Ames Research Center are running tests in supersonic wind tunnels to develop the next, more powerful version of the world’s most advanced launch vehicle, the #Space Launch System — capable of carrying humans to deep space destinations. The new wind tunnel tests are for the second generation of SLS. It will deliver a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity and will be 364 feet tall in the crew configuration — taller than the Saturn V that launched #astronauts on missions to the moon. The rocket’s core stage will be the same, but the newer rocket will feature a powerful exploration upper stage. On SLS’s second flight with Orion, the rocket will carry up to four astronauts on a mission around the moon, in the deep-space proving ground for the technologies and capabilities needed on NASA’s Journey to Mars.