Artemis IV is targeted for 2028 and will mark the first crewed lunar landing of NASA's Artemis program. Following a program restructuring in early 2026 that paused the Lunar Gateway space station, the mission architecture now bypasses the orbital outpost. A crew of four astronauts will travel to lunar orbit, with two crew members descending to the lunar South Pole to conduct surface research.

The mission will utilize the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B rocket. This upgraded configuration introduces the advanced Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), replacing the interim stage used on prior flights and increasing the vehicle's trans-lunar payload capacity to 42 tonnes. The SLS will launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, transporting the astronauts on a trajectory to intercept a pre-positioned lunar lander.

Lunar descent will be executed using either SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System (HLS) or Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander. The designated lander will launch separately and rendezvous with Orion in lunar orbit. Two astronauts will transfer to the lander, descend to the South Pole for extravehicular activities, and ascend back to Orion. The Orion capsule will then execute a trans-Earth injection burn to return the full four-person crew to Earth, concluding the mission with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

After the successful Artemis I mission, the next step is to begin sending people on missions to the Moon and beyond on the world’s most powerful rocket.

On its second mission, Artemis II, SLS will send Orion and its crew farther than humans have ever traveled before—around 250,000 miles from Earth, or 10,000 miles beyond the Moon. Like Artemis I, the second flight will use a Block I version of NASA’s SLS rocket.

Carrying only cargo, the rocket’s 8.4-meter shroud could hold three fully loaded school buses or the equivalent of 30 Mars Curiosity rovers, which are about the size of a small car. Large parts of NASA’s Gateway can be launched along with the Orion spacecraft or on separate flights.

The ultimate evolution of SLS is the Block 2 rocket, which can carry either crew and cargo or cargo-only missions needed for Mars exploration or planetary missions to the outer solar system. The Block 2 launch vehicle reaches orbit using the same core stage as smaller versions of the rocket, but more powerful boosters will increase thrust to 11.9 million pounds. This will allow it to launch more than 46 metric tons (101,000 pounds) to deep space.

Artemis I, the first integrated flight of SLS and Orion, used the Block 1 configuration, which stands 322 feet tall and weighs 5.75 million pounds. During launch and ascent, SLS produced 8.8 million pounds of maximum thrust—15 percent more thrust than the Saturn V rocket.

For Artemis I, Block 1 launched an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into an orbit 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, or 280,000 miles from Earth. This mission demonstrated the integrated system performance of SLS, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems prior to a crewed flight.

Core Stage

The Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama, builds the SLS core stages, including the avionics that control the vehicle during flight. Towering more than 212 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, the core stage stores 730,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that fuel the RS-25 engines.

Core stages are built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans using state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, including the largest friction stir welding tool of its kind in the world. The core stage is the newest part of the rocket and successfully completed its one and only planned Green Run test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

With the Artemis I core stage complete, Boeing is building stages for the next several Artemis missions. The SLS avionics computer software is developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

RS-25 Engines

Propulsion for the SLS core stage is provided by four RS-25 engines. Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, California, is upgrading an inventory of 16 RS-25 Space Shuttle engines to meet SLS performance requirements, including a new engine controller, nozzle insulation, and operation at 512,000 pounds of thrust.

During flight, the four engines provide about 2 million pounds of thrust. The SLS Program and its industry partners tested the four RS-25 engines and the entire core stage in a “Green Run” test campaign that culminated in a successful, full-duration 500-second hot-fire at Stennis.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested new controllers for the engines and processed engines for follow-on flights after Artemis I. In addition, the company has restarted production of new RS-25 engines and is developing and testing advanced components to make the engines more affordable.

Boosters

Two shuttle-derived solid rocket boosters provide more than 75 percent of the vehicle’s thrust during the first two minutes of flight. The prime contractor for the boosters, Northrop Grumman’s Northern Utah team, modified the original Shuttle configuration from four propellant segments to a five-segment design.

The design also includes new avionics, propellant grain geometry, and case insulation, and eliminates recovery parachutes.

In addition to the boosters for Artemis I, Northrop Grumman has completed motor segments for Artemis II and is working on boosters for missions beyond Artemis II. Trains transport booster segments from Utah to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they are stacked with forward and aft assemblies to create the largest, most powerful boosters ever built for spaceflight. Booster avionics systems are tested at Kennedy and Marshall.

Integrated Spacecraft

The initial capability to propel Orion out of Earth’s orbit for Block 1 comes from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), based on the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage used successfully on United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV family of rockets. It uses one RL10 engine made by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The engine is powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and generates 24,750 pounds of thrust. With two upper stages complete, United Launch Alliance is manufacturing the Artemis III ICPS.

Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville builds the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, which partially encloses the ICPS and connects it to the core stage. The Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) connects Orion to the ICPS on the SLS Block 1 vehicle. The OSA can accommodate several CubeSat payloads in 6U or 12U sizes, depending on mission parameters.

For Artemis I, the OSA carries several 6U CubeSats to deep space for various science and technology demonstration missions.

The SLS Team

SLS is America’s rocket, with more than 1,100 companies across the United States and every NASA center supporting the development of the world’s most powerful rocket. The SLS Program, managed by Marshall, works closely with the Orion Program, managed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the Exploration Ground Systems Program, managed at Kennedy.

All captions and data courtesy of NASA. Photo courtesy of Jenny Hautmann for Supercluster.

Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is a significant launch site located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Constructed in the late 1960s alongside LC-39A, it was originally designed to support the Apollo program. LC-39B played a key role during the Apollo era, including the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18, 1969, which was a crucial mission before the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing. The pad was later adapted for the Space Shuttle program, hosting several Shuttle launches over its operational life.

Following the end of the Shuttle program, LC-39B underwent extensive renovations to prepare it for future missions. NASA focused on upgrading the site to support the Space Launch System (SLS), a new heavy-lift rocket designed for deep space exploration as part of the Artemis program. This program aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars. The upgrades included installing a new mobile launcher and enhancing infrastructure to accommodate the SLS and its associated systems.

LC-39B garnered significant attention with its role in NASA’s Artemis missions. It was the launch site for Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, which successfully launched on November 16, 2021. This mission was a critical step towards returning humans to the Moon and demonstrated the capabilities of both the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Today, LC-39B continues to be a vital component of NASA’s plans for future exploration. It is set to support upcoming Artemis missions and other deep space endeavors, serving as a launch site for both crewed and uncrewed missions aimed at exploring beyond low Earth orbit. The complex’s modern upgrades and its role in advancing human space exploration highlight its ongoing importance in NASA’s ambitious goals for space travel.

Photo courtesy of Erik Kuna for Supercluster.

High-quality prints selected from the Supercluster team’s spaceflight photography are available in our shop.

Our prints are produced on 10 mil (0.25 mm) thick, slightly glossy, and fingerprint-resistant photo paper sourced from Japan.

Begin your collection with a striking image: Erik Kuna’s capture of Artemis II In Flight