NASA has announced the imminent birth of the Space Launch System (SLS), a rocket that will be powered by five Space Shuttle Main Engines (pictured below) and two Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters — a configuration that will make it the most powerful launch vehicle ever made. The tentative first-launch date is December 2017, where the equally-drily-named Multiple-Purpose Crew Vehicle will be sent on an unmanned trip around the Moon — and if all goes to plan, starting 2021, and for the first time in 60 years, astronauts will fly around the Moon.

The first iteration of the SLS will only be capable of lifting 70 metric tons (it will only have three Space Shuttle Main Engines), but the design’s main advantage is that it can be easily re-outfitted for different tasks. By the time it is equipped with five engines, which sounds like it will happen around 2025-2030, the SLS will be capable of lifting 130 tons — which NASA hopes will be enough to send a space exploration craft into deep space. The fact that SLS makes extensive re-use of the Shuttle’s engines obviously reduces the overall cost of the program, hopefully ensuring its continuous passage through the miserly halls of Capitol Hill.

After the Space Shuttle retirement, Ares’ axing via budget tourniquet, and the Russian Soyuz grounding due to a technical mishap, we were all a little worried about the short-term future of the International Space Station and, in the long run, space exploration. Those commercial space taxis from Virgin Galactic and SpaceX have a little way to go, after all. NASA has now made it clear that it’s serious about getting back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.

Read more at NASA or download a video of the Space Launch System