will take it back to the kennedy space center down in florida. fred, all things considered, a tremendously successful mission so far from nasa. we saw this spacecraft lift off back on november 16 on top of the sls space launch system or artemis rocket from the space center. it beamed back incredible images from just 80 miles off the surface of the moon. it traveled further than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has ever flown. and along the way all systems performed just beautifully, and now, fred, today we got to see the final big test for this spacecraft. the heat shield. did this heat shield hold? that s what these divers will be assessing, just an initial glance of the spacecraft within the next few minutes before being brought back for some more specialized checkouts once it s back on land.
geophysical on mars or asteroid that would help us here on earth? reporter: it is called the sls space launch system will be able to carry a pay load 110 tons less than the shuttle and the saturn 5. shepard: there are arguments this doesn t need to cost as much as they say. reporter: especially the private space industry they call this a 35 billion dollar boondoggle they say this is about keeping jobs in florida and texas. they point out why nelson, hutchison are supporting this. they believe private industry can do this faster and cheaper. this money should be going to the private sector where the real space players are. my company and other private space companies can do better than nasa, frankly just about