Maxar Satellite captures photos of NASA’s Artemis 1 SLS rocket ready for launch

Maxar Technologies (purveyors and publishers of nearly unbelievably detailed satellite photography of earth) has released satellite photos of the NASA Artemis 1 Mission SLS Rocket sitting on the launchpad of Launch Complex 39B ready to go for liftoff early next week (Monday, August 29th as currently scheduled). See the images below they just tweeted out from their Twitter account.

Maxar Artemis 1 Satellite Photos

Maxar Technologies is an American company based in Colorado that offers mostly commercial services for detailed base maps, optical imagery and data from their satellite imagery. Their satellites have been used to photograph everything from Russian forces in Ukraine to cityscapes of the New York City skyline. Luckily for us this morning, they’re checking out the SLS rocket which as planned will be carrying an unmanned Orion to the moon next week as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

Artemis 1 is the first planned uncrewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program, and it’s also the first test of the NASA SLS rocket (pictured) or Space Launch System. The Artemis program will explore the moon, and is planned to land humans on the moon for the first time since 1972. The SLS rocket (or Space Launch System) is the largest rocket built by NASA since the Saturn V, and is expected to carry NASA astronauts deeper into space as the successor to the Space Shuttle program.

Needless to say, Maxar has delivered some insanely cool photography of an insanely cool mission taking flight next Monday if things go as planned. To the moon!