Space Launch System Artemis II - "Return To The Moon"

The Space Launch System (SLS) is NASA’s two-stage, super heavy lift launch vehicle. SLS was designed to launch the Orion spacecraft The rocket uses expendable components. The rocket generates 39 meganewtons maximum thrust at liftoff. As of 2026, it the most powerful rocket to ever carry humans. After retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, development began as a replacement to the Shuttle. SLS utilizes hardware derived from the Space Shuttle program. The core stage is powered by Qty. 4, RS-25 engines derived from the Space Shuttle main engines. The two, five-segment solid rocket boosters were developed from the four-segment boosters used in the Shuttle program. The second stage uses an RL-10 engine. The SLS is the primary launch vehicle for the Artemis moon exploration program. The first launch of the rocket took place on November 16, 2022, carrying the uncrewed Artemis I mission. The spacecraft completed one flyby of the Moon on November 21 subsequently entering into a distant retrograde orbit for six days. Artemis I then completed a second flyby of the Moon on December 5 on its return to Earth with atmospheric reentry and splashdown occurring on December 11. The second launch of the Space Launch System took place on April 1, 2026, carrying the crewed Artemis II mission on its historic lunar flyby mission. It was the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft and the first crewed flight which went beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 final lunar landing mission of 1972.  Crew members were commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. During their lunar flyby, the crew set the record for farthest human distance from Earth of 252,756 miles. This broke the previous record of 248,655 miles held by the crew of Apollo 13 since 1970. Earth reentry and splashdown occurred on April 11.  This print is a depiction of the SLS with Artemis II in flight shortly after launch.