This illustration shows what the new SLS capsule will look like traveling through space.

When the last space shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in June 2011, many people wondered what kind of spacecraft NASA would build next. In September 2011, NASA announced its plans for a new kind of space vehicle. NASA says that the new spacecraft, called the Space Launch System (SLS), will be “the most powerful rocket ever built.” Using the SLS, NASA hopes to take astronauts farther into space than ever before.

The SLS will mostly resemble the Saturn V rockets that NASA used during the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. It will also reuse some technology from the space shuttle. The SLS will be a tall rocket with two main parts, or stages. When this kind of rocket lifts off, the stages are used up and fall off one by one as the vehicle climbs into space. The astronauts’ capsule will sit at the top of the upper stage of the rocket. This is a safer place for the astronauts to ride than beside the fuel tank, which is where they were on the space shuttle.

NASA plans to launch the first test flight of the SLS in 2017. This first flight will be unmanned. After the SLS is tested, NASA wants to use it to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. The SLS will be able to carry about three times as much cargo as the space shuttle. The SLS could also be used to take trips to the moon and to asteroids. NASA also hopes that the SLS will one day launch astronauts on a mission to Mars.

Image credit: NASA

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