spacetoday.net: Ares 1-X rolled out to pad

Ares 1-X rolled out to pad

Posted: Wed, Oct 21, 2009, 10:13 AM ET (1413 GMT)
Ares 1-X rollout (NASA/KSC)

NASA's Ares 1-X rocket, a suborbital prototype of the planned Ares 1 rocket, rolled out to the pad early Tuesday in advance of next week's launch. The 100-meter-tall rocket took about six hours to roll out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39B, from where it's scheduled to launch on October 27 on a suborbital test flight. The rocket has a lower stage similar to that planned for the Ares 1, although with a four-segment solid rocket motor instead of the five-segment motor that Ares 1 will use, but a dummy upper stage. The test flight comes as NASA, the White House, and Congress debate the future of the exploration program, considering options that do not require the Ares 1.