Nasa reveals plan for $10bn monster rocket to put man on Mars

Nasa has unveiled plans for a new $10 billion “monster rocket” to take mankind deeper into space than it has ever gone, in an announcement hailed in Congress yesterday as a new beginning for the beleaguered US space agency.

Twice as tall as the now-retired shuttle and set to be the most powerful rocket ever built, the Space Launch System will aim to launch a crew to land on an asteroid by 2025 and take others to Mars in the following decade.

“This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued US leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world,” said Major General Charlie Bolden, the head of Nasa and a former shuttle astronaut, announcing the plans on Capitol Hill yesterday.

The announcement ended more than a year of stalling by the Obama administration, which had blocked Nasa from moving forward amid wrangling with Congress over the project’s cost and architecture and concerns about a lack of bipartisan support. The delay has cost thousands of jobs at Nasa and lengthened the critical gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and the dawn of a next generation of vehicles.

The first crewed flight will not come until at least 2021 – and the rocket may not be fully evolved until as late as 2032.