NASA has planned to launch their next generation heavy lift rocket named Orion-SLS on 2019. however, the first test flight Space Launch System (SLS) would be around the moon but the most important factor is, it will be fully unmanned.
Space has reported that in 2016, NASA first planned to launch the Orion-SLS in 2018 without any crew on the board. Earlier this year, Trump Administration has sent a transition team to approach NASA for an internal evaluation to check the possibility of sending a crew inside the Orion capsule inside SLS.
Acting administrator of NASA, Robert Lightfoot said at a news conference,“ based on the results of this internal evaluation, a crewed flight would be technically feasible, but the agency will proceed with its initial plan to make the rocket's first flight uncrewed”. He also explained that first Orion-SLS mission should have unmanned for the safety purpose, in case if there is any faulty then it doesn't kill any life.
According to Pulse Headline, the first Orion-SLS mission flight will be known as Exploration Mission 1(EM-1) and it would take almost three weeks to complete the trip. NASA also announced that the next mission(EM-2) will be scheduled on 2021 and it would be a crewed flight.
Now, Lightfoot and NASA officials are concentrating about the schedule of EM-1 as it is already delayed. NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans was seriously damaged by the tornado where Orion-SLS was planned to be assembled with the jet propulsion system and the Orion capsule.
After lots of discussion NASA team and White House have decided to launch the Orion-SLS in2019. However, the exact date of launch is still unknown. Associate administrator for human exploration and operations for NASA, Bill Gerstenmaier said that delay of WM-1 Will also affect the launch date of Em-2. He also added, there should be at least 33-month gap between the launch of EM-1 and EM-2.
