By Kimberly Newton
Apr 08, 2015
When NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) launches on its first flight, it will be doing some serious multi-tasking. Not only will Exploration Mission-1 test the performance of SLS and its integration with the Orion spacecraft - the agency plans to use its massive lift capability to carry nearly a dozen nano-satellites to conduct science experiments beyond low Earth orbit.
NASA's newest rocket will launch Orion on an uncrewed test flight to a distant retrograde orbit around the moon. Tucked inside the stage adapter - the ring connecting Orion to the top propulsion stage of the SLS - will be 11 self-contained small satellites, each about the size of a large shoebox.
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