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After Moon Landing Anniversary, NASA Aims Beyond Earth Orbit

Kane Farabaugh

   What looks like an unusual giant orange metal canister, rising high
   above the windy and humid Alabama landscape, has some familiar design
   features.

   "There's a lot of heritage shuttle technology here," said NASA engineer
   Mike Nichols.

   But this canister is not intended to return the iconic fixed-wing,
   reusable space shuttle back into orbit, which was retired in 2011 --
   the last time NASA sent an astronaut into space from U.S. soil.

   The celebrations marking the recent 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo
   11 moon landing were a reminder to the public that the National
   Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, hasn't been back to the
   moon since 1972, and is not currently sending astronauts into space
   from U.S. soil. The only way they can currently get to the
   International Space Station, or ISS, is by way of a Russia-launched
   Soyuz capsule.

   If everything goes according to NASA's plan, that's all about to
   change. And what is taking shape inside large steel scaffolding today
   at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is an
   example of the core of a new Space Launch System, or SLS.

   "The piece behind me is the liquid hydrogen tank," explained Nichols,
   one of NASA's lead engineers testing new rocket technology in Alabama.
   "In order to prove that it's strong enough to survive launch, they
   build this structural test article, send it to us, we install it in the
   test end. We do tests which involves using hydraulic cylinders to
   provide loading to it."

   NASA historian Brian Odom says the new liquid hydrogen tank is just one
   piece of the larger SLS system, which will launch astronauts in a newly
   designed "Orion" capsule into space.

   WATCH: Next NASA project

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