The American space agency NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is rolling out its giant new Moon rocket to prepare it for a maiden flight. Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle is being taken to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a lift-off scheduled for the 29th of August.
It will be a crucial and long-delayed demonstration trip to the moon in NASA’s Artemis program, the United States multibillion-dollar effort to return humans to the lunar surface as practice for future missions to Mars. The debut outing is a test with no crew aboard, but future missions will send astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years.
According to media reports, if bad launch weather or a minor technical issue triggers a delay from 29th August, NASA has backup launch dates on 2nd and 5th September.