Launch vehicleActive
Space Launch System (SLS)
Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
NASA's Space Launch System is the super heavy-lift rocket at the Earth-departure end of the Artemis architecture. Its current Block 1 configuration combines a liquid-hydrogen core , four RS-25 engines, two five-segment , and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage to launch Orion. NASA standardized this two-stage configuration in its 2026 Artemis reformulation rather than proceeding with the larger Block 1B upgrade.
Launch vehicle dossier
Places and recovery
Vehicle record
- Operator
- NASA
- Program management
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
- Current configuration
- SLS Block 1
- Height
- Approximately 322 feet (98 meters) in Block 1 crew configuration
- Liftoff thrust
- More than 8.8 million pounds
- Core propulsion
- Four liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen RS-25 engines
- Boosters
- Two five-segment
- Block 1 upper stage
- Interim Cryogenic Propulsion with one RL10 engine
- Current architecture
- Standardized two-stage SLS Block 1 baseline following the 2026 Artemis reformulation
- Mission role
- Launch Orion, astronauts, and deep-space payloads from Earth
- First flight
- Artemis I on November 16, 2022
- Status
- Active; Artemis flight hardware continues in production
People Launched by This Vehicle
Photo Archive
Documented views of this individual vehicle, with source and credit retained alongside each image.