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The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle, under development by NASA since 2011. It replaced the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, which were cancelled along with the rest of the Constellation program. Like those proposals, it is derived from the Space Shuttle.

SLS is intended to become the primary launch vehicle of NASA's deep space exploration plans throughout the 2020s and beyond, with planned crewed lunar flights of the Artemis program and a possible follow-on human mission to Mars. SLS is being developed in three major phases with increasing capabilities: Block 1, Block 1B, and Block 2. , SLS Block 1 launch vehicles are planned to launch the first three Artemis missions. After this point Block 1B will take over until the introduction of Block 2.

SLS is planned to launch the Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis program and use the ground operations and launch facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis will use one SLS each year until at least 2030. The rocket will use the Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. The first launch was originally scheduled for 2016, but it has slipped at least eight times, adding more than five years to the original six-year schedule. , the first launch is scheduled for no earlier than January 2022.

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, the first Block 1 will launch in early 2022, the first Block 1B in 2025, and the first Block 2 in 2029. The U.S. Congress mandated the payload capabilities of each phase in the enabling legislation for the project. The mandated payload masses to low Earth orbit (LEO) are 70 ST for Block 1 and 130 ST for Block 2. Artemis 1, Artemis 2, and Artemis 3. Block 1B is intended to debut the Exploration Upper Stage and launch the notional Artemis 4 through Artemis 7. Block 2 is planned to replace the initial Shuttle-derived boosters with advanced boosters to achieve the mandated LEO capability. Block 2 is intended to enable crewed launches to Mars and will have a higher total LEO payload capability than the Saturn V.