太空发射系统核心级抵达肯尼迪航天中心

After its journey from NASA’s Stennis Space Center aboard the Pegasus barge, the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on April 27, 2021. Shown against a Florida sunrise, the core stage is the final piece of Artemis hardware to arrive at the spaceport. Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems and lead contractor Jacobs will offload the core stage and move it to the center’s Vehicle Assembly Building for integration atop the mobile launcher with the completed stack of solid rocket boosters ahead of the Artemis I launch. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, producing up to 8.8 million pounds of thrust during its Artemis I launch.

Artemis I will be an uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon to establish sustainable lunar presence and prepare for human missions to Mars.

Photo credit: NASA

2021年4月27日，太空发射系统（SLS）火箭的核心级在搭乘飞马座驳船从美国宇航局斯坦尼斯航天中心出发后，抵达了该机构的肯尼迪航天中心。在佛罗里达州日出的映衬下，核心级是到达太空港的最后一块阿耳忒弥斯硬件。探索地面系统公司和首席承包商雅各布斯公司的工程师将卸下核心级，并将其移至该中心的飞行器装配大楼，以便在阿耳忒弥斯一号发射前将其与已完成的固体火箭助推器堆栈集成在移动发射器上。SLS将是世界上最强大的火箭，在阿耳忒弥斯一号发射期间产生高达880万磅的推力。

阿耳忒弥斯一号将是对猎户座飞船和SLS火箭作为一个综合系统在载人飞往月球之前进行的一次无人驾驶测试。根据阿耳忒弥斯计划，NASA的目标是让第一位女性和第一位有色人种登陆月球，以建立可持续的月球存在，并为人类的火星任务做准备。

图片来源：美国国家航空航天局