NASA has advanced by two months to September 30, 2018 the first launch of its Space Launch System (SLS), the heavy-lift, expendable launch vehicle that will take humans to Mars, back to the Moon, to asteroids and wherever else in the solar system over the next 15 years.

NASA said it's making good progress towards the September launch in which SLS will have as its payload the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle that can carry a crew of four astronauts. This will be the second uncrewed test flight for Orion after December 2014.

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Original plans call for Orion to spend some three weeks in space, with six days of this in a retrograde orbit around the moon. Orion intends to facilitate human exploration of Mars and asteroids.

The first SLS mission is designated Exploration Mission 1 or EM-1. It will launch from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

Major structural pieces of the core stage for the first SLS should be completed by the end of July. The former space shuttle main engines that will be used on the first SLS flight have already completed acceptance testing.

NASA also reported work is going well on the crew module for the Orion spacecraft, where the pressure vessel housing the astronauts is being outfitted with various subsystems. That component recently completed a series of pressure tests and engineers will soon add its propulsion and life support systems.

"The agency's baseline commitment is November of 2018," said Mike Bolger, manager of the GSDP program. "The September date we've talked internally about, and pressed them to see if we can make it by September. It gives us a little margin at the end."

John Honeycutt, SLS program manager, said work on components of the first SLS is proceeding as planned. He also said the SLS program is making progress on the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), a more powerful upper stage planned for future SLS missions after EM-1.

"We're moving rapidly towards the launch pad," he said, calling development of the SLS a "good news" story.

The SLS launch vehicle is to be upgraded over time with more powerful versions. The EM-1 launch vehicle will be a Block 1 version capable of lifting a payload of 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit.

TagsNASA, Space Launch System, SLS, Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Exploration Mission 1, Mars, moon, asteroids