Nasa prepares for new Ares 1-X launch

Published: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:50:51

Nasa is rolling out its new super-slim Ares 1–X rocket, its first new spacecraft for nearly 30 years. It is hoped the new 100m rocket will make a test flight on October 27th following a Nasa meeting yesterday which decided to launch the shuttle Atlantis STS-129 and the new Ares 1–X before the end of the year. The Ares project has cost an estimated $445 million (£272 million), but Nasa hopes it will be putting its astronauts into orbit for the next decade.

The test flight for the new craft will see it climb, unmanned, 25 miles into the sky. The space agency said: "The flight test, called Ares I-X, will bring Nasa one step closer to its exploration goals – to return to the moon for ambitious exploration of the lunar surface and then to travel to Mars and destinations beyond." The Ares is now on its seven-hour long 'roll' towards launch pad 39B in Florida's Kennedy Space Centre. Nasa said the total weight of the rocket, mobile launcher platform, and crawler-transporter is 16 million pounds.

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