Chris Alexander

On Engineering

Ares I-X Launch

31st October, 2009

So earlier this week you may have seen my tweets or on the news about NASA’s launch of the Ares I-X test vehicle. I thought it would be great to have a look at the event now some of the telemetry is being processed.

I was hoping that NASA would come up with an HD video of the launch, but it seems we’ll have to wait a few more days for those. In the mean time, the Boston Globe has done one of its “Big Picture” features on the launch. The features are always excellent and this one is particularly good.

The Ares I-X is the test flight of the first development of the Ares I spacecraft, which will carry the Orion crew module into low Earth orbit. Orion (the other component of the Constellation project) will then take up to 6 people on to the moon and beyond.

The lauch this week cost nearly $500 million to put together and execute, from the development and construction of parts, through the testing and transport, and of course the launch itself.

There were comments by the people who I watched the launch that the exploration of space is a waste of time and money, and they had quite the opposite of my desires to see the mission succeed. But as it stands it worked excellently well, and hopefully the Constellation project can lead us on to a great future of space exploration.

I have included some pictures here from the Boston.com article.