NASA rolled out its new massive rocket to the launchpad for the second time

The Space Launch System rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building atop its mobile launch platform for the second time. | Image: NASA/Ben SmegelskyThis morning, NASA’s new monster rocket, the Space Launch System, rolled out to its Florida launchpad for a second time, paving the way for the agency to perform a crucial dress rehearsal with the vehicle later this month. If that test goes well, then NASA may be poised to finally launch the rocket on its uncrewed debut flight sometime this year.
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is a key component of NASA’s Artemis program — the agency’s endeavor to send the first woman and the first person of color to the surface of the Moon, which NASA hopes to conduct by 2025.
The SLS’s history has been extremely bumpy. It has been in development for roughly a decade now, a period that’s been marked by cost overruns and delays. Back in March, NASA r…

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