The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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On 25 April the Artemis Moon rocket was rolled from launchpad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
This timelapse video of NASA’s mega-Moon rocket with Orion and the European Service Module inside shows the transport from the launchpad.
While the rocket will propel Orion to supersonic speeds, the rocket itself is moved slowly but securely to the launchpad. These scenes have been sped up on average 20 times faster than actual speeds, with the shots of at the end 50 times faster. Traveling at a maximum speed of just 1.3 km/h, the 6.5-km voyage is a careful process.
The ten-hour journey was completed on 26 April and the Space Launch System teams then worked on replacing a faulty upper stage check valve and a small leak within the tail service mast umbilical ground plate housing, and perform additional checkouts before returning to the launch pad for the next wet dress rehearsal attempt.
At 100 m tall, the SLS rocket is roughly the height of the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) in London, UK, or 16 giraffes stacked on top of each other. If you laid the rocket on the ground, it would take over a minute to walk from the engines to the tip of the launch abort system.