Good morning and happy Sunday space fans! Pulled an archived photo today to talk about the evolution of NASA launch vehicles. Pictured here, Space Shuttle #Atlantis takes flight on its STS-27 mission on December 2, 1988, utilizing 375,000 pounds thrust produced by its three main engines. To put that into perspective, the initial Block 1 configuration of the Space Launch System (#SLS) rocket will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equivalent to more than 160,000 Corvette engines. The Block 1 configuration will provide 15 percent more thrust at launch than the Saturn V rocket and carry more than three times the payload of the space shuttle. Credit: NASA #history #spaceshuttle #launching #tospace #throwbacksunday #rocketscience #explorenasa