Sep 15, 2011

The New Rocket from NASA

Ah, it's finally here! A rocket with a booster that's more powerful than the legendary Saturn V. Faster than a bullet, and able to leap long distances with a single ignition( just guessed the last part), the SLS, short for Space Launching System, is NASA's latest rocket. Though it's compared a lot to the Saturn V, and also looks like it too, it actually is a cross between the space shuttle and the planned rocket from the Constellation program. The first few launches will even use the space shuttle's SRB(the white boosters on the sides)
space shuttle

I think this rocket will be be very important in the upcoming major steps in space exploration, and NASA says this will be used to carry people to Mars and asteroids too. But I think it will be better to launch a few smaller rockets with parts of the spacecraft going to the space beyond,
and put them together in orbit around the Earth. I guess that takes time, and also the ISS will be dead by then so they'll have to wait for a new station. (sounds uncannily like the situation when the Apollo program was proposed- no time for a space station, so a huge rocket will have to do.)