Nasa finally launches Ares 1-X rocket
Nasa finally launches Ares 1-X rocket
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Nasa's new rocket launch has been delayed by bad weather at the Kennedy Space Centre.
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Wednesday, 28, Oct 2009 05:35
By Sarah Garrod
Nasa has finally been able to launch its next-generation prototype rocket after bad weather stalled take-off.
On its second attempt, the Ares 1-X, which has been designed to replace the space shuttle, took off from its launch pad for a two-minute flight.
A statement from the US space agency in Florida's Kennedy Space Centre read: "Rising into the Florida sky, the 327-foot rocket thunders away from the launch pad, marking the first time a new vehicle has launched from the complex since the first space shuttle launch in 1981.
"The mission will last two minutes, during which constant data received from the rocket.
"At about the T+2 minute point in the flight, the upper stage simulator and first stage will separate at approximately 130,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. The unpowered simulator will splash down in the ocean. The first stage will be fired for a controlled ocean landing with parachutes that will allow recovery by one of Nasa's booster recovery ships, while the other ship tracks the upper stage."
The 100m tall Ares will test technology for the development of craft to return man to the moon.
The I-X has been designed to be as close as possible to the eventual Ares I rocket.
"I am proud of the work this team has done to ready this test rocket for launch," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for Nasa exploration systems mission directorate earlier this week.