As NASA’s Artemis II astronauts journey back to Earth following their breathtaking close encounter with the moon earlier this week, the space agency has just shared some stunning footage (below) of the rocket launch that sent the crew on its way on April 1.
The close-up tracking shot shows the awesome power of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s four core RS-25 engines together and its two solid rocket boosters as the 98-meter-tall vehicle roars away from the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The SLS creates a colossal 8.8 million pounds of thrust at launch, about 1.2 million pounds of thrust more than the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era five decades ago, and about half that of SpaceX’s in-development Starship rocket, which itself is expected to one day fly to the moon.
NASA’s rocket is powered by a mix of high-performance engines across its stages. Its core stage uses four RS-25 liquid-fueled engines, which burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen to produce extremely efficient thrust. Notably, these core stage boosters are actually repurposed hardware from the Space Shuttle, which NASA retired in 2011.
The vehicle also uses two massive solid rocket boosters that provide the majority of liftoff power to get the massive vehicle and the Orion spacecraft containing the crew to space.
Orion carried the crew farther from Earth than anyone has ever traveled as the spacecraft looped around the moon earlier this week.
Besides gathering new data about the moon, the mission is also testing the spacecraft for human operations ahead of future Artemis missions that will endeavor to return humans to the lunar surface, possibly as early as 2028.
After eight days in space, the four Artemis II astronauts now have Earth clearly in their sights and are preparing to splash down in the ocean off the coast of California on Friday in what promises to be a memorable homecoming.
For more details on how to watch the final moments of the Artemis II mission unfold, Digital Trends has you covered.