Will the Nasa Ares 1-X rocket be launching today at Kennedy?
NASA’s Ares I-X Rocket Arrives at Launch Pad in Florida CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — For the first time in more than a quarter century, a new vehicle is sitting at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Ares I-X flight test vehicle arrived at the pad atop of a giant crawler-transporter at approximately 7:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday. The crawler-transporter left Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building at 1:39 a.m., traveling less than 1 mph during the 4.2-mile journey. The rocket was secured on the launch pad at 9:17 a.m. The vehicle is scheduled to launch at 8 a.m. on Oct. 27. This test flight of the Ares I-X rocket will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, models, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I launch vehicle. The Ares I rocket is being designed to carry astronauts to space in the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The Ares I-X test flight also will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the vehicle’s integrated sta
A new rocket more than 100 feet taller than the space shuttle stands on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, ready to blast off this week. It’s called Ares I-X, and it could become a key part of the U.S. space program’s future. Or, it could be scrapped. Even before its first launch, a NASA advisory last week questioned its worth. The rocket was built because space shuttles are scheduled to stop flying after 2010, or possibly 2011, once astronauts finish building the International Space Station. Next, NASA wants to return humans to the moon, and possibly send them on to Mars. For this, the space agency is designing a capsule-type spacecraft called Orion. It would launch on the new Ares rocket. However, the advisory panel said last week that NASA would need billions more money each year for this ambitious plan to explore space. Without it, continuing the development of this Ares rocket, and another similar one, might not make sense, the panel said. But the Ares I-X prototype is still schedule
