[youtube aPgPyq8EonE] NASA is, the Agency urges in a news release , "ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System--an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. The messy politics behind the story aren't innovative (the Apollo program was canceled to make way for the Shuttle, and the Shuttle has now been ditched to make way for the SLS, with bitter discussions and budget controversies along for the ride, as ever) but the rocket itself is going to be. Because NASA's next "big stick" binds together 50 years of research and lessons into one 21st century rocket
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