NASA’s SLS rocket tore open like a tin can

[Mike Wehner]

• NASA destroyed its pricey Space Launch System rocket during testing, but it was totally planned.
• The space agency has to push hardware beyond its limits to know just how much it can endure, and it gathers a huge amount of data from each of these tests.
• NASA hopes the SLS will carry astronauts to the Moon by 2024.

NASA is headed back to the Moon. It plans to send astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2024 — though that date has always seemed a bit too optimistic for most experts — and when it does, it'll be using the SLS, or Space Launch System rocket to make it happen. The SLS has been in development for a long while and it's gone through rigorous testing to ensure it meets NASA's demands.

Now, NASA has released a video showcasing its own destruction of the SLS rocket. By intentionally pushing the rocket past its designed limits for strength, the space agency gets a better idea of just how durable it truly is. Video of these tests has been shared, but this is the first time we get to see the behind-the-scenes of how it all went down.

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NASA’s SLS rocket tore open like a tin can originally appeared on BGR.com on Sun, 5 Jul 2020 at 10:13:58 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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