NASA's New Rocket Rolls To Launch Pad-to eventually carry astronauts to the moon

[The Straight Story]

NASA's New Rocket Rolls To Launch Pad
NASA Plans To Launch Test Flight Next Week

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's new rocket arrived at the launching pad Tuesday for a test flight next week that comes at a time when the future of the country's spaceflight program is up in the air.

It's the first time in 34 years that a rocket other than the space shuttle has stood at Launch Pad 39-B. NASA modified the pad for this rocket, which is supposed to eventually carry astronauts to the moon.

But the White House may scrap those plans. A panel of aerospace experts that provided President Barack Obama with a list of possible exploration options is issuing its final report later this week.

The experimental Ares I rocket spent all night traveling from the hangar to the pad. The four-mile trip took more than seven hours.

http://www.clickorlando.com/technology/21346692/detail.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. They'd rather spend the money killing peasants in Afghanistan

than space exploration. This will get canceled "for the time being".

[Uncle Joe]

2. I hope not, space is where humanity needs to go. n/t

[FarCenter]

3. Humanity weighs on the order of 300 billion kilograms

Calculate the energy needed to launch humanity into space.

[The Straight Story]

4. Don't give it to me in Nazi weight, use English

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/618fb6cbf2/gus-porter-american-legend-with-thomas-haden-church

:rofl:

[Uncle Joe]

7. Calculate the energy needed to support humanity; when it reaches 600 billion kilograms

should it stay confined to this tiny blue marble.

[kestrel91316]

6. Humanity doesn't have the right to go to other planets etc until and unless

it quits fucking up Planet Earth and cleans up its mess right here.

[Uncle Joe]

8. I see no reason as to why both shouldn't be worthy goals and for the sake of long term

human survival; necessary.

[PVnRT]

5. No, no, no, the NASA budget is keeping us from creating a utopia

That's what I've learned on DU.

[Soylent Brice]

10. yeah, and nothing useful ever comes from any of their wasteful trips and

"science" experiments anyways.

lol

[brendan120678]

9. Here's some more info...

Courtesy of www.floridatoday.com

BLOGGER UPDATE: 9:20 a.m.: Ares I-X Secured At Pad. NASA is gearing up for a six-day series of tests and check outs of the Ares I-X rocket as the agency marches toward a planned launch next Tuesday. NASA engineers secured the vehicle to launch pad 39B around 9:18 a.m., capping a 4.2-mile move from the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA mission managers say the slender "single stick," which was secured to its mobile launcher platform by just four large bolts, remained steady throughout the eight-hour, 40-minute move. Engineers monitoring strain gauges said the forces encountered by the rocket were only 10 percent of certification limits despite sometimes breezy conditions. The rollout keeps NASA on tract for a launch during a window that will extend from 8 a.m. to noon next Tuesday. Target liftoff time for the test flight is 8 a.m.

BLOGGER UPDATE, 7 a.m.: Ares I-X Approaching Pad. NASA's Ares I-X rocket is approaching launch pad 39B as the sun rises over Florida's Space Coast and the 4.2-mile journey from the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building reaches the five-and-a-half-hour mark. The crawler transporter is moving along at a clip of about 0.8 mph. The rocket rounded the turn north to pad 39B at about 6 a.m. It is expected to be secured to the launch pad around 9:30 a.m. You can watch the rollout live here in The Flame Trench. Click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.

NASA's imposing Ares I-X rocket is headed toward its ocean side launch pad today after an impressive crawl out of its Kennedy Space Center assembly building.

With its mobile launcher platform mounted atop a giant tracked transporter, the 327-foot rocket emerged from High Bay No. 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at 1:39 a.m., a little more than an hour and a half later than planned.

Standing 15 stories taller than NASA's space shuttle, the gleaming white rocket -- which was bathed in high-power xenon floodlights -- made for an impressive sight as the crawler crept along at less than one mile per hour.

"It's fantastic," said Angela Posada-Swafford, the senior U.S. correspondent for Muy Interesante, the largest science magazine for general audiences in Spain and Latin America. "It's gorgeous."

The transporter slowly picked up speed from 0.2 to 0.6 and then 0.8 mph as the world's tallest rocket was hauled down a river-rock crawlerway toward launch pad 39B, where it will be readied for launch on a test-flight next Tuesday.

The Ares I-X slipped into darkness about 3 a.m., and NASA -- as planned -- suspended live television coverage. Live NASA TV coverage will pick up again at 7 a.m. as the rocket approaches the pad, which is 4.2 miles from the assembly building.

You can watch the arrival live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.

The Ares I-X is expected to be secured on the pad around 9:30 a.m.

[brendan120678]

11. Another pic, at the launch pad...

[Statistical]

12. Awesome photo. After getting use to space shuttle for 3 decades...

the radically different dimensions make it look almost "fake".

[brendan120678]

14. Here at work they are planning a "lift-off" party for...

next Tuesday morning to watch the rocket take off. My company provides quite a few components that assist in the stage separation for that (and other) rockets. Unfortunately, I'll be in Huntsville, Alabama on business travel that day so I guess I'll have to try and get it online.

[Statistical]

16. Wait you mean all the money "wasted" in space isn't just set on fire in orbit.

That money actually results in a living wage for thousands of workers and generates innovation and technological breakthroughs.

:)

Anyways glad to see your company got to do some work on this new rocket. I hope it lives up to expectation and I also hope Obama doesn't axe it to say <0.1% of the federal budget. How about we build one less aircraft carrier next decade (we got 7 and rest of the world has 3 combined) instead.

[drm604]

13. What a beautiful vehicle.

Although I still think the old Saturn V had it beat.

[Robb]

15. I don't care who you are, that's damn sexy. nt