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Launching NASA's Next Big Rocket

An aerial view of Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In view in the background is the Vehicle Assembly Building and the mobile launcher. Photo: NASA/Bill White
An aerial view of Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In view in the background is the Vehicle Assembly Building and the mobile launcher. Photo: NASA/Bill White

NASA is in the process of developing a rocket system that will take humans past low-earth orbit and into deep space.

Astronauts will explore places like cis-lunar space, or maybe even Mars, from the safety of the Orion space capsule. To blast that piece of hardware into space, NASA is building the Space Launch System.

That huge rocket will launch an uncrewed capsule on a trip around the moon sometime in 2019 and that mission starts from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B.

 

Brendan Byrne is Central Florida Public Media's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing the organization's internship program. Byrne also hosts Central Florida Public Media's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration, and the weekly news roundup podcast "The Wrap."