Way down south in the United States, NASA's human spaceflight centers are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation transformation.

From Florida to Texas, five NASA facilities have designed, built and flown its rockets for more than half a century. After the space shuttles retired in 2011, the agency has been working a new rocket called the Space Launch System, and a crew capsule called Orion. They are part of a plan to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since 1972.

To see how these programs are doing, The Planetary Society went on 10-day, 450-mile journey throughout the South. We called it the Rocket Road Trip.

So strap in, fuel up and prepare to launch into this five-part video series featuring a behind-the-scenes look at NASA's deep space human exploration program.

You can also click here to watch the entire playlist on YouTube.

Need to catch up on our Horizon Goal series about NASA's human spaceflight program?

Part 1: How The Columbia Tragedy Shifted NASA's Sights To The Moon

Part 2: 'Apollo on Steroids': The Rise and Fall of NASA's Constellation Moon Program

Part 3: Space in transition: How Obama's White House charted a new course for NASA

Part 4: To Mars, with a monster rocket: How politicians and engineers created NASA's Space Launch System

Part 5: The flexible path to Mars: SLS, Orion and NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission

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