It's big, it's powerful, it's the core for Artemis II: Photo of the Week, July 21-27, 2024

It's going to take a mighty big core stage to send NASA astronauts into space at more than 17,000 mph and propel them around the moon for the first time in 50 years.

On July 24, just how big the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System rocket Artemis II really is was captured in this Photo of the Week by Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY photojournalist.

Over several decades, Bailey has shot so many space-related photos that he can't tell you what the first one was.

But, oh, can he tell you details, then and now.

In this case, that core was being moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center from the Pegasus barge, which had transported it 900 miles to KSC from Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Part of the allure of the shot is the perspective it provides: This is the biggest rocket core stage ever built by NASA.

"It gives people an idea of just how big the SLS rocket will be," Bailey said. "The workers are standing next to the business end of the vehicle where the four RS-25 engines are mounted."

The RS-25's, he said, "were originally used on the space shuttle and have been repurposed to power the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to the moon."

Artemis II is tentatively scheduled for launch no earlier than September 2025 from pad 39B at KSC. Crew members are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen.

Seeing those engines, and this shot? Imagine how big that history-making launch will be.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Moon rocket core: It's big — and Photo of the Week, July 21-27, 2024