it launches no earlier than feb 6th

what’s the rocket called

it’s called the space launch system and it’s derived from old space shuttle hardware.

you know those two white side boosters on each of the sides of the space shuttle? in the 2000s, when the shuttle was about to get retired, they wanted to lengthen one of those boosters and named that the Ares I, which would be used to transport people to the moon. the problem is that the fuel it uses is solid fuel where once lit it can’t be controlled (think like a firework) which is not good for crew.

so they ended up scrapping the design, then basically made a bigger version of the space shuttle’s core (same color of orange, same hydrogen fuel, and similar hardware) and stuck two Ares Is to the side of that, because they had already built some of those. that’s basically what the space launch system (right now) is. but later they’ll have to build those white side boosters instead of just relying on old Ares I rockets

oh yea i remember that

what’s the mission of the rocket this time?

it will send a spacecraft called orion around the moon in a specific trajectory that will take it further than apollo 13 was from earth, orion won’t have a lunar lander with it (that is currently scheduled for no earlier than 2027) so it will just be a flyby mission, but it has 4 astronauts on it

oh cool

We'll be back on the moon before GTA 6

Unironically probably