NASA has unveiled plans for a mammoth deep-space rocket to carry astronauts to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond the International Space Station. The design for NASA's newest rocket bears some similarities to those that propelled men to the moon four decades ago.

An artist's rendering of a deep space rocket named the Space Launch System, or SLS, obtained by Reuters from NASA on September 14, 2011, shows it lifting off from a launch pad. [CNTV]

But it will be able to carry up to 110 tons of payload, including the six-person Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle capsule. The multibillion-dollar program will carry astronauts in a capsule on top, but the first mission is still 10 years off if all goes according to the plans. Test launches are to start from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in six years' time. The longer term plan of the mission is to send astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025. From there, NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

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