As NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket stands ready for its first test flight next week, the Artemis program prepares to follow in the footsteps of Apollo, which first carried humans to the Moon in the 1960s. SLS will fly uncrewed just once before carrying astronauts around the Moon on Artemis II, while the Orion spacecraft will be making only its third trip into space on that mission. By contrast, Apollo saw a series of test flights over the course of a decade, leading up to Neil Armstrong’s “small step” in July 1969.
