CNET

Inside NASA: Building the Next Massive Rocket to the Moon

NASA is going back to the moon for the first time in 50 years with its most powerful rocket ever. CNET’s Claire Reilly goes inside the factory where this super heavy-lift giant is being built, ahead of NASA’s most ambitious human journey yet. 0:00 Introduction 1:46 NASA’s Crewed Missions 2:30 Artemis Mission Overview 3:25 Inside…

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NASA is going back to the moon for the first time in 50 years with its most powerful rocket ever. CNET’s Claire Reilly goes inside the factory where this super heavy-lift giant is being built, ahead of NASA’s most ambitious human journey yet.

0:00 Introduction
1:46 NASA’s Crewed Missions
2:30 Artemis Mission Overview
3:25 Inside the Michoud Assembly Facility
4:41 Artemis Design 101
6:26 The Orion Capsule
8:23 The SLS (Space Launch System)
10:28 Transporting the SLS to Kennedy Space Center
11:21 Inside the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building)
11:43 The Challenges for Artemis
12:19 ‘It’s Not One and Done’
13:41 The Future of Artemis

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#nasa #artemis #space

68 Comments

  1. Philip

    July 6, 2022 at 12:56 pm

    People dont understand the difference between getting to LEO and to the Moon. SpaceX will need to refuel to get there and thats multiple launches just to get to the Moon.

    • John Theux

      July 6, 2022 at 8:26 pm

      @Broken Soap Where does those estimations comes from? Mine are official statements…

    • Mikołaj

      July 6, 2022 at 8:28 pm

      @John Theux according to musk himself ships are around 120t. Plus boiloff

      Also, those are numbers spacex gave nasa. They themselves said 14 tanker launches.
      Where do you think GAO got the numbers from? Tree?

    • John Theux

      July 6, 2022 at 8:39 pm

      @Mikołaj That’s for a standard ship, not HLS.
      “Without flaps & heat shield, Starship is much lighter. Lunar landing legs don’t add much (1/6 gravity). May only need 1/2 full, ie 4 tanker flights”

    • John Theux

      July 6, 2022 at 8:40 pm

      @Broken Soap There is no already known information regarding HLS starship beside Musk statements.
      He said they would be about half the weight.

  2. Dodge

    July 6, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    “I would do it [study UFOs], but before agreeing to do it, we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance in the L.A. case, the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination.”

    J. Edgar Hoover-Director of FBI

    The security guard called and said, “Sir, there’s a glowing red object
    hovering right outside the front gate. I’ve got all the men out here with
    their weapons drawn.” We lost between 16-18 ICBMs (nuclear tipped Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) at the same time UFOs were in the area… (A high ranking Air Force officer) said, “Stop the investigation; do no more on this and do not write a final report. I heard that many of the guards that reported the incident were sent off to Vietnam.”
    Captain Robert Salas, USAF, during a videotaped interview for the Disclosure program.
    “A few insiders know the truth…and are studying the bodies that have been discovered.”

    -Dr. Edwin Mitchell Apollo 14..the 6th NASA employee to walk on the Moon.

    “Maximum security exists concerning the subject of UFOs.”

    CIA Director, Allen Dulles, 1955.

    “Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe that unknown flying objects are nonsense.”
    Former CIA Director, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, public statement, 1960.

    “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false”

    -William Casey, CIA director, 1981

    “Yes, there have been ET visitations. There have been crashed craft. There have been material and bodies recovered. There has been a certain amount of reverse engineering that has allowed some of these craft, or some components, to be duplicated. And there is some group of people that may or may not be associated with government at this point that have this knowledge. They have been attempting to conceal this knowledge. People in high level government have very little, if any, valid information about this. It has been the subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and create confusion so the truth doesn’t come out. ”
    ― Edgar D. Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Mystical World

    AFFIDAVIT

    (1) My name is Thomas Jefferson Dubose

    (2) My address is: XXXXXXXXXX

    (3) I retired from the U.S. Air force in 1959 with the rank of Brigadier General.

    (4) In July 1947, I was stationed at Fort Worth Army Air Field [later Carswell Air Force Base] in Fort Worth, Texas. I served as Chief of Staff to Major General Roger Ramey, Commander, Eighth Air Force. I had the rank of Colonel.

    (5) In early July, I received a phone call from Maj. Gen. Clements McMullen, Deputy Commander, Strategic Air Command. He asked what we knew about the object which had been recovered outside Roswell, New Mexico, as reported in the press. I called Col. William Blanchard, Commander of the Roswell Army Air Field, and directed him to send the material in a sealed container to me at Fort Worth. I so informed Maj. Gen. McMullen.

    (6) After the plane from Roswell arrived with the material, I asked the Base Commander, Col. Al Clark, to take possession of the material and to personally transport it in a B-26 to Maj. Gen. McMullen in Washington, D.C. I notified Maj. Gen. McMullen, and he told me he would send the material by personal courier on his plane to Benjamin Chidlaw, Commanding General of the Air Material Command at Wright Field [later Wright Patterson AFB]. The entire operation was conducted under the strictest secrecy.

    (7) The material shown in the photographs taken in Maj. Gen. Ramey’s office was a weather balloon. The weather balloon explanation for the material was a cover story to divert the attention of the press.

    (8) I have not been paid or given anything of value to make this statement, which is the truth to the best of my recollection.

    Signed: T. J. Dubose
    Date: 9/16/91

    Signature witnessed by:
    Linda R. Split
    Notary Public, State of Florida

    MEANINGFUL congressional hearings, ala the Watergate hearings, including aerospace/defense contractors and Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson must be held to address a vital issue that transcends politics and we will never properly advance until it happens: The 75+yr ongoing-constitutionally illegal,
    EXTRATERRESTRIAL cover-up. How can we truly believe anything our elected officials say? The dog n pony shows must cease.

  3. Tinashe Mamire

    July 6, 2022 at 1:12 pm

    Terrible waste of tax payer money

  4. _PBT_

    July 6, 2022 at 1:32 pm

    NASA is amazing! Go flight!

  5. David Dragonhammer

    July 6, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    Space X does it better,with less , NASA doesn’t impress me ,they always have cost over runs,they waste so much time on bureaucracy, amazing they even can do anything, used to look to stars,and yet took them 50 years to decide ,hey lets go back to the moon, space x is way ahead of them,why is that?

  6. Eureka

    July 6, 2022 at 1:51 pm

    SpaceX❌
    NASA✅

  7. Cballin

    July 6, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    Can it land itself to be reused?

    • J J

      July 6, 2022 at 5:28 pm

      No

    • Mikołaj

      July 6, 2022 at 7:48 pm

      Its not economically feasible with requirements and demands

  8. eden finch

    July 6, 2022 at 2:08 pm

    Does it cost too much?

  9. Andrew C

    July 6, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    Correction, the most expensive rocket ever.

    • James Wilson

      July 6, 2022 at 2:51 pm

      They have to refit the crawler for the new SLS rockets. More money 💰

    • Broken Soap

      July 6, 2022 at 7:10 pm

      It’s not
      Quite a bit cheaper than the Saturn V, both in development and cost per unit

    • Andrew C

      July 6, 2022 at 9:12 pm

      @Broken Soap It depends on what you’re counting. If you’re looking purely at Saturn V and SLS cost per launch, SLS is more expensive. Everything was developed new for the Apollo program. SLS is using old technology and there is little innovation.

  10. Fine, I'll Do It Myself

    July 6, 2022 at 2:23 pm

    NO – ME – shood.
    YES – ME – shoo.

    I could school you guys more, but I don’t like typing.

  11. dePlant

    July 6, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    Isn’t it always quicker to ride a bike than walk?

  12. Unemployed Loyolite

    July 6, 2022 at 2:51 pm

    I’m ashamed to say that I have completed SELF FINANCE COURSE MA APPLIED HISTORY AT LOYOLA COLLEGE, CHENNAI in 2001.I didn’t get any job till now. Im suggesting my juniors to safeguard your parents hard earned money and don’t fall into the words of professor ranganathan who joins students in ma applied history just to increase the number of students in the department.The reason behind low number of students in ma applied history is those who didn’t get their preferred degree are mindwashed by him and to say that I also studied a master degree in loyola college.

  13. Mike's Micro Shop

    July 6, 2022 at 4:03 pm

    And yet it still can not do what the Saturn 5 did! Some how I am not thinking it is the most powerful rocket they have ever built!

    • RyanRising

      July 6, 2022 at 7:16 pm

      “Powerful” is a bit of an ambiguous term but it’s often used to refer to thrust – a rocket can have higher thrust than another without actually being more capable. This rocket has higher first stage thrust than the Saturn V, though it has less throw to TLI.

    • Imjashingyou

      July 8, 2022 at 12:57 am

      It carries significantly more payload… …

  14. J de la Cruz

    July 6, 2022 at 4:04 pm

    That rocked will never go to mars. And after starship starts flying there will be no reason to spend billions per launch to go to the moon. Too expensive and too late.

  15. JTWorks

    July 6, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    At 4.1 Billion per launch the SLS is outdated and unfortunately an embarrassment for the United States government. I am just thankful the US has SpaceX to fall back on and lead the US space industry forward.

    • Ramesh Pudhucode

      July 7, 2022 at 9:43 pm

      Wonderful. We are waiting to hear from experts like you.

    • JTWorks

      July 8, 2022 at 3:34 am

      @Colin Dunbar I agree on all fronts. I don’t think this is NASAs fault. They have to work under constraints that don’t let them test and fail, so they can’t work like SpaceX. Additionally they have to work with bloated contactors that milk the “cost plus” model for every penny. On top of that you have to have the thing made in as many states as possible to fund the right senators so they approve NASAs budget. It is a case study on why America is falling behind. I am hoping we can follow SpaceX’s lead into other industries.

  16. Chris G

    July 6, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    OOOOhhhh my

  17. Colourmatic

    July 6, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    Starship and Superheavy loudly coughing in the corner

  18. luke skywalker

    July 6, 2022 at 6:04 pm

    We lost contact with the first Artemis satellite launched by rocket lab last week

    • Mikołaj

      July 6, 2022 at 7:45 pm

      They restored contact 2 hours ago

    • luke skywalker

      July 6, 2022 at 8:47 pm

      @Mikołaj thanks for the update

    • luke skywalker

      July 7, 2022 at 9:09 pm

      @Mikołaj where do you get your updates from? I would like to keep track of the progress. Do you have a link?

  19. luke skywalker

    July 6, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    Why are we calling SLS the most powerful rocket in the world? Even if we are talking about rockets currently in service it’s not in this category yet. Maybe in August? Starship will might launch before SLS and nothing goes in the record books for SLS. I’m exited for SLS but don’t hype it up, after a few launches it will already be time for something more sustainable.

    • RyanRising

      July 6, 2022 at 7:14 pm

      I think that’s why they specified *its* most powerful rocket ever, not *the* most powerful rocket ever. It’ll be the highest thrust rocket owned and operated by NASA until… well until SLS block II.

    • huwale

      July 6, 2022 at 10:50 pm

      @RyanRising you just said the same thing twice

    • luke skywalker

      July 6, 2022 at 11:20 pm

      @huwale he is right, it’s NASA’s biggest rocket not the worlds biggest rocket.

    • huwale

      July 6, 2022 at 11:29 pm

      @luke skywalker oh he just worded it a bit weird

    • luke skywalker

      July 6, 2022 at 11:31 pm

      @Broken Soap but it can carry multiple Blue Origin landers in it’s entity (not just payload) down to the moon in one trip for a third of the price.
      It time to bring a ship to the moon not just a 3 or 4 person survival tent. It’s difficult to do science in those conditions and forget the permanent habitat we need more flow of material to materialize these plans.

  20. Jim Jablonski

    July 6, 2022 at 6:43 pm

    Aint a rocket till it flies. Giant paperweight still.

  21. Edward Lobb

    July 6, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    If there were assembly and launch platforms within reasonable distance from earth, an entirely new concept of transportation could quickly evolve. In order to obtain the tangible future of space travel, we must compress time. Printing of modular elements requires raw material, and this rocket can deliver a high volume of very dense materials, in massive loads. Through the printing process, in zero gravity, this material can be expanded into an enormous array of space platforms, in a very short time.

    • Imjashingyou

      July 8, 2022 at 12:52 am

      Can build pressure vessels and test them with 3d printing much less in space.

  22. Zakariah Tulloch

    July 6, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    sick

  23. Claire Reilly

    July 6, 2022 at 11:12 pm

    Thanks for watching – this video was great fun to make (genuinely still can’t believe how cool it was to see the whole rocket all stacked up!)
    My big question for those who weren’t around during Apollo (like me): What do you think it’ll be like to see boots on the moon?

    • David Tuttle

      July 7, 2022 at 2:43 am

      I was born 10 years after Apollo 11. I can only imagine the wonder and pride that watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon must have given everyone in 1969. To be able to see that live some time this decade with my own eyes would be wonderful and it would help restore faith in humanity that yes we can do big things and that putting someone on Mars perhaps truly is within our grasp.

    • Ou8y2k2

      July 7, 2022 at 5:05 am

      It’ll be surreal: an 8K VR experience in the metaverse, a 4K AR experience in the media room, or a 2.5K experience on the iPhone 17 Pro Max Super Plus Good.

    • luke skywalker

      July 7, 2022 at 9:10 pm

      Thanks for the tour it’s amazing what we can accomplish

    • Ramesh Pudhucode

      July 7, 2022 at 9:42 pm

      I belong to the Apollo generation. I am excited for Artemis 1. Great video Claire. Thanks

    • Sean Taggart

      July 8, 2022 at 1:32 pm

      It will be amazing
      A major unity event not seen since then

    • Sean Taggart

      July 8, 2022 at 1:32 pm

      @Ramesh Pudhucode i can’t wait

  24. Pete and RePete

    July 6, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    NASA Never A Straight Answer

  25. 2excitedovernothing

    July 7, 2022 at 12:53 am

    It’s exciting to think in a couple years we will be back on the moon & hopefully within a decade have a permanent presence on the surface.

  26. Josh Nixon

    July 7, 2022 at 2:46 am

    Elon will beat you to mars

  27. Josh Nixon

    July 7, 2022 at 2:59 am

    I remember years ago nasa saying they would be to mars by the mid 2020s. NASA can’t focus on long term goals because each new doofus president changes the previous ones plan

    • Telegram me at 👉 officialcnet

      July 7, 2022 at 8:36 am

      Hit me up for your reward

  28. Todd Rickey

    July 7, 2022 at 7:21 am

    Artemis, Sister of Apollo

  29. Logan Kuyper

    July 7, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    No mention of SpaceX 😂

    • Ramesh Pudhucode

      July 7, 2022 at 9:45 pm

      She did mention. May be you need some attention span

  30. Justin_tech

    July 7, 2022 at 2:51 pm

    This video was fantastic! Bravo, Claire and team!

  31. The Crusader

    July 7, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    You mean being in the most powerful rocket that’s never going to fly

  32. The Crusader

    July 7, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    What happens when you have a woman do this type of reporting

  33. Naren Jamatia

    July 7, 2022 at 5:40 pm

    In the face of SpaceX it is too expensive for it’s capabilities.

  34. zunedog31

    July 7, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    93 Billion is cheap – we spent more than 70 times that on covid relief.

  35. Mariachee Bandidos

    July 8, 2022 at 12:07 am

    the should be a law against using the phrase “for the first time…” if it is not the actual first time.
    “the first time” should imply the first time ever. because once you qualify it with “since” then anything can be “the first time”
    for the first time, since a second ago.

  36. HarryVlogs

    July 8, 2022 at 12:31 am

    Not really it’s quite short compared to superior starship

  37. Random Name

    July 8, 2022 at 12:43 am

    But shouldn’t there *not* be super high pressure in the tanks as it is *liquid* fuel, not gas? I’m pretty sure that’s why it can be so thin. If it was actually a high pressure gas vessel I’m sure it would have to be way thicker. I could be wrong.

  38. PeterPilotVancouver

    July 8, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    I appreciate that the SLS is meant to take up the maximum payload, this is not sustainable. The cost per KG is astronomical.
    NASA, Boeing et AL are milking government dollars for a cost plus model. If Nasa could make reusable rockets, there is a weight penalty up front but after several flights the cost per KG will drop. The shuttle was an experiment in reusability but it was overly complicated and inefficient. They need to learn from that and make the next generation of reusable rocket, even it it means multiple trips to haul up the same load. The cost of fuel is way cheaper than building a new rocket every time you want to fly.

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