Launch of NASA's New Ares Rocket Scrubbed

Test of New Spacecraft, First Step in Man's Return to the Moon, Falls Afoul of Weather

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated 11:27 a.m. ET

The first flight of NASA's newest rocket was scrubbed this morning after upper-level winds, clouds and an errant freighter created several delays for its initial launch.

The Ares I-X rocket was set to lift off Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. ET. Weather problems forced a delay to 9:44 a.m.; then it was announced that a cargo ship was in the down-launch area. After resetting the clock, another hold was placed because of weather.

By 11:20 it was clear that winds exceeding 20 knots were not going to abate, and Mission Control regrouped, to decide whether to try again tomorrow.

The towering rocket isn't carrying any humans or cargo, but in some ways it's carrying the future of the U.S. manned space flight program. It's the centerpiece of a $445 million test flight expected to generate valuable engineering data for development of a replacement for NASA's aging fleet of space shuttles.

The rocket is part of the Constellation program, designed to return America to the moon and beyond, reports CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg.

But it was approved in 2005, when the economy was stronger. Since then, NASA's budget has been cut by $15 billion.

Just last week, a NASA review panel commissioned by President Obama reported that Constellation is on "an unsustainable trajectory."

"We say that because of a mismatch between the scope of the program and the funds to support the program," said the commission's chairman, Norman Augustine.

The panel concluded that NASA's current plans to build new Ares rockets and establish bases on the moon by the early 2020s is not feasible without an additional $3 billion to $6 billion a year.

The panel laid out a handful of alternatives, including using private companies to launch U.S. astronauts in the near-term. But without more money the entire program is in doubt, which one former NASA chief calls a potential tragedy.

"If we in the United States decide to step away from space exploration, the solar system will belong to others, and we will be watching from the sidelines," said former NASA administrator Mike Griffin.

For in-depth space coverage, visit the CBS Space Place

For the first test flight, lasting all of six minutes, NASA is using a standard four-segment shuttle booster with an empty fifth segment, housing guidance and navigation equipment adapted from Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 rocket, and new 150-foot-diameter parachutes to lower the spent rocket to the ocean for recovery.

A dummy second stage, loaded with ballast and topped off with a make-believe Orion capsule and abort rocket, are bolted to the top of the first stage, said CBS News space consultant William Harwood.

More than 700 sensors are mounted on the Ares I-X to record an enormous amount of engineering data on all phases of flight, from launch through motor burn out two minutes later, through stage separation, parachute deployment and ocean impact. Multiple video cameras are mounted on the rocket to provide real-time views of critical elements.

Engineers say the short flight will help them resolve questions about first stage vibration, roll control, aerodynamic forces and thermal effects, as well as stage separation systems and recovery of the first stage using new 150-foot-wide parachutes.

"One test is worth a thousand expert opinions," said Jon Cowart, Ares I-X deputy mission manager at the Kennedy Space Center.


For more info:
Constellation Program (NASA)
NASA Home Page

[pensacola8-2009]

It seems that when the sock was stuck over the probe on the sensor tip, they could have used a simply weather balloon with a short piece of cord tied to a pulley sheave and threaded that long parachute chord through it and permitted the balloon to lift the sock straight up and off the probe sensor tip.

[obicera1]

America has lots on its plate, always has, always will. Space exploration is but one small, albeit very visible, part of that. We can afford to fund it at an even higher level. It provides many tangible and many more intangible benefits. We say we should wait until we have addressed all our other issues and then spend on programs like this. Our national situation is fluid and we will never solve all the problems to the point where we can say "now we can spend on these 'luxuries'". There will always be new problems to solve. So we explore space anyway. All of the other national issues do not hang on whether NASA is funded and would not go away if NASA were not funded.

[pensacola8-2009]

You may have given up hope, but not the rest of us. Yes, I concede that this technology is expensive to develop, but when the taxpayers finance a new technology and capitalize on the new industries that spin off from the technologies, it translates itself into many good paying jobs for our citizens to compete and acquire.

The success of the space program has many results that intrude into our daily lives..personal computers, cell phones, DVD, CDROM, microwave ovens, hand-held calculators, energy efficient lights and LEDs, Integrated Circuit chips, Digital Signaling Processors, Networking infrastructure and technologies, enhanced real-time databases, debit cards, ATM machines, numerous medical testing devices and computer controlled fuel injection automobile engines...are just to name a few. We have a very good life compared to many others, thanks to our government subsidized space program. Killing the space program or allowing it to fade kills the promise of a nice standard of living enjoyed by all people connected to the establishment.

[parisdakar]

I want to be the guy who runs up and lights the fuse.

[chonder2]

I love science and space exploration.I watched the first moon landing live as a kid.
But this country has other priorities to deal with right now other than pouring money into another Moon/Mars project.

[RedWings_ninety_one]

I agree, but that's never stopped us from pouring money into unnecessary programs or things before.

[sorerect]

Yeah, America can't afford it anymore. We better just leave it to Russia, Japan, India, China, and the European Space Agency.....all who have earth to moon projects in the works.