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NASA Unveils New Rocket For Historic Test Flight By Tariq Malik
Managing Editor
posted: 20 October 2009
09:34 am ET
This story was updated at 10:32 a.m. EDT.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, a brand new NASA rocket has rolled out to a seaside launching pad in Florida to prepare for a launch test debut.
The new rocket isAres I-X — a suborbital prototype for the Ares I rocket NASA plans to use to launch its shuttle successor, the Orion spacecraft. Currently the world's tallest booster in service, the Ares I-X rolled out to the launch pad early Tuesday and is slated to blast off Oct. 27 at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) on a short demonstration flight.
"The Ares I-X is going to fly straight up and straight out," said NASA commentator George Diller as the 327-foot (100-meter) tall rocket began moving toward Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "During that time we'll be testing the stage separation to determine how well the first stage separation motors perform, as well as the performance of the booster itself, namely the parachutes and other apparatus that will deploy."
The $445 million rocket's rollout comes on the eve of a final report from an independent committee appointed by the White House to review NASA's plans for future human spaceflight.
During a series of summer meetings, the committee found that NASA does not have the budget to fund its vision of replacing the shuttle fleet by 2015 and returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. Led by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, the committee is due to release a report Thursday that details several options for President Barack Obama's consideration, some of which do not include the Ares I rocket at all.
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