The Space Launch System is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person
SLS with the Orion spacecraft launching from Pad 39B for Artemis II
The SLS core stage rolling out of the Michoud Assembly Facility
SLS of Artemis II, with side view showing one of the two boosters
Test fire of BOLE prototype, June 2025
The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had three stages, and was l
Space Launch System
…has been for the Artemis II lunar flyby in April 2026, becoming the second launch vehicle to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), after NASA's Saturn V of the Apollo program. Development of SLS began in 2011 as a congressionally mandated replacement for the retiring Space Shuttle program and the cancelled…
The launch of the Apollo 11 mission on Saturn V SA-506, July 16, 1969
Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle and flight vehicle configurations
Von Braun with the F-1 engines of the Saturn V first stage at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center
In Configuration One, SA-500D was fully assembled inside the dynamic test facility.