http://osmoothie.com/2008/07/08/nasa-plans-to-test-space-shuttle-replacement-in-spring-2009/
NASA is planning to conduct in spring 2009 the first test flight of a new
carrier rocket with an advanced launch vehicle to replace the outdated space
shuttle, the U.S. space agency said in a statement.
"NASA is developing new spacecraft, the Ares rockets and Orion crew
capsule, to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and
send them on their way to the Moon," the statement said.
The prototype rocket, known as Ares I-X, is scheduled for launch in spring
2009 before the "retirement" of the space shuttle fleet in 2010.
"The Ares I-X flight will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and
prove hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I
crew launch vehicle," the agency said on its website.
NASA is planning to complete the testing of the Aries I by 2013 and send
astronauts on board the new launch vehicle to the ISS in 2015. Until then crew
rotation and cargo delivery missions to the ISS will be tentatively carried out
by Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Progress space freighters.
Russia currently charges around $50 million for each American astronaut
delivered to the orbital station.
The reusable Aries I rocket is part of the ambitious Constellation program
developed by NASA to maintain a U.S. presence in low Earth orbit, to return to
the Moon and establish a base there, and to lay the foundation to explore Mars
and beyond in the first half of the 21st century.
A new generation of spacecraft for human spaceflight under the
Constellation program consists primarily of the Ares I and Ares V carrier
rockets, the Orion crew capsule, the Earth Departure Stage and the Altair lunar
lander.
NASA earlier said U.S. astronauts could be back on the Moon by 2020.
Gregory S. Williams
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