NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Program

 From design to production...

The 70 metric-ton SLS will stand 321 feet tall, provide 8.4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, weigh 5.5 million pounds and carry 154,000 pounds of payload. That vehicle will set out on its first mission -- Exploration Mission 1 -- in 2017, launching an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to demonstrate the integrated system performance of the SLS rocket and spacecraft before a crewed flight.

The initial design will evolve into a 130 metric-ton (143 ton) configuration that will lift more than 286,000 pounds and provide 20 percent more thrust than the Saturn V, which launched American astronauts to the moon. Used primarily to launch heavy cargo, SLS will be the largest rocket ever built and will enable exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit to many places in the solar system including Mars.

The 70 metric-ton SLS requires many critical parts to get it off the ground and safely into space, including solid rocket boosters, powerful engines, flight computers, avionics and the core stage. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, will carry cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines.