NASA's giant U.S. moon rocket emerges for debut launch

17/8/2022 12:15

        NASA's gigantic Space Launch System moon rocket, topped with an uncrewed astronaut capsule, began an hours-long crawl to its launchpad Tuesday night ahead of the behemoth's debut test flight this month.
        
        The 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket is scheduled to embark on its first mission to space - without any humans - on Aug. 29. It will be a crucial, long-delayed demonstration trip to the moon for NASA's Artemis program, the United States' multibillion-dollar effort to return humans to the lunar surface as practice for future missions to Mars.
        
        The Space Launch System, whose development during the past decade has been led by Boeing Co, emerged from its assembly building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida about 10 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT) on Tuesday and began a four-mile (6-kilometer) trek to its launchpad.
        
        Moving less than 1mph (1.6kph), the rollout will take roughly 11 hours.