Offering more payload mass, volume capability, and energy to speed missions through space, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, along with NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit and Orion spacecraft, is part of the agency’s backbone for deep space exploration and the Artemis lunar program. SLS is the only launch vehicle that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to space beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon in a single mission.
About eight minutes after launch, the RS-25 engines will shut down and the core stage will separate from Orion and the. The RS-25’s smaller sibling, the RL10 engine, will take over on the ICPS. The RL10 engine will fire for less than one minute to position Orion ahead of a longer burn that will accelerate the spacecraft fast enough to break away from the pull of Earth’s gravity and set a course with a precise trajectory to the Moon.