The five-segment boosters will lift off aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as 6 February 2026, carrying four astronauts on a historic deep-space mission.
Standing 54 metres tall and generating around 3.6 million pounds of thrust each, the SLS boosters are the largest and most powerful solid rocket boosters ever used for a crewed spaceflight. Together, they will provide more than 75 per cent of the total thrust needed to launch the rocket.
The design is an evolution of the four-segment boosters used during the Space Shuttle era and was successfully tested during the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which saw the Orion spacecraft orbit the moon in 2022.
Northrop Grumman is also responsible for key safety systems on the mission, including the attitude control motor and abort motor for Orion’s Launch Abort System. This system is designed to rapidly pull the crew capsule away from the rocket in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent.
Jim Kalberer, vice-president of propulsion systems at Northrop Grumman, said the company’s technology would deliver the majority of the SLS rocket’s launch power.
“We’ve leveraged our manufacturing and solid rocket motor expertise to supply the SLS rocket with 7.2 million pounds of its total 8.8 million pounds of thrust at lift-off,” Kalberer said. “The power and performance of these boosters are critical to a new era of exploration and building a sustainable human presence in deep space, ahead of future missions to Mars.”
Artemis II will be the first mission to carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo program ended in 1972. The four-person crew will spend about 10 days on a mission around the moon, testing spacecraft systems and validating technologies needed for future lunar landings.
Beyond the Artemis II launch, Northrop Grumman is playing a major role in NASA’s long-term deep-space ambitions. The company is building the Habitat and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module for the Lunar Gateway, a planned space station that will orbit the moon and support sustained human missions.
Northrop Grumman is also developing a next-generation solid rocket booster, which it said will be the largest and most powerful segmented booster ever produced, designed to support future missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.