the SLS rocket, which will carry the next astronauts to the Moon, begins its tests

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This new American machine, which must be installed on its launch pad this Thursday, March 17, in Florida, contains including a new lunar ship designed in France.

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It is the most powerful rocket ever built. And she is out for the first time in Florida. The SLS, for “Space Launch System” imagined by the Americans, is 100 meters high and weighs some 2700 tons at take-off. This Thursday, March 17, it must be installed on its launch pad for tests. Its mission is simple: send astronauts to the Moon within a few years.

It was assembled piece by piece at the Kennedy Space Center. The first copy will be placed in firing configuration for tests before a first launch, at best at the beginning of the summer. This will be the Artemis 1 mission, which will aim to test the entire rocket in flight. At its top is the capsule that will carry the next astronauts who will therefore walk on the Moon.

On board the SLS is Orion, a new lunar craft designed in France. “It is a cylinder that is about five meters in diameter and two meters high“, explains Philippe Berte, coordinator of the project for the European Space Agency. “It contains the elements necessary for the survival of the crew and the achievement of the mission. It provides propulsion, thermal control, electrical power as well as breathing gas and water to the astronauts.“In other words: an indispensable module.

If the Artemis 1 mission goes well, Artemis 2 will carry its first passengers around the Moon in 2024. The following year, it will be back on lunar soil with Artemis 3, 53 years after the last visitor.

The start of the SLS tests, a report by Olivier Emond

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