Capped by the highly successful Artemis I mission, 2022 was a landmark year for NASA. Groundbreaking research continued in Earth orbit, a new human-rated spacecraft circled the Moon, robotic exploration of Mars reached important milestones and the agency’s newest telescope revealed never-before seen images of the universe.
The ground shook for miles around as NASA’s new mega-rocket, the most powerful in the world, roared to life for the first time, beginning a new era in space exploration. Liftoff of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System, or SLS, is sending a human-rated spacecraft to the Moon for the first time in 50 years. The Orion capsule now is streaking across trans-lunar space on a mission that will take it well beyond the Moon, paving the way for landing the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface.