Ares 1-X Launch HD

NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off Oct. 28, 2009, at 11:30 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The flight test lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly modified Launch Complex 39B until splashdown of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles downrange. The 327-foot-tall Ares I-X test vehicle produced 2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate the rocket to nearly 3 g's and Mach 4.76, just shy of hypersonic speed. It capped its easterly flight at a suborbital altitude of 150,000 feet after the separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster. Parachutes deployed for recovery of the booster and the solid rocket motor, which were recovered at sea and will be towed back to Florida by the booster recovery ship, Freedom Star, for later inspection. The simulated upper stage and Orion crew module, and the launch abort system will not be recovered. The flight test is expected to provide NASA with an enormous amount of data that will be used to improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles, which could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit. ** Downloaded with permission from nasa.gov **

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• Constellation
• Ares
• 1-X
• Launch
• HD
• rocket
• test
• flight

[RandyJ007]

Farewell, Constellation program... It would have been nice... thanks Obama (sarcasm intended on that last part)

[wessendorf15]

@RandyJ007 i know obama is costing me my job. we just got done refurbishing our last SRB. i just hope that we get a new president who will help fund US space association cause rockets is all i know! i don't think i can get a job dealing with morons at a supermarket all day long.... atleast i got videos to remind me of the good ol days :/

[rss0246]

@RepublibotThreePoint

Fact is... EVERYTHING on this flight went exactly as planned (including pad damage, funny looking separation, etc.)... completely NOMINAL! Now everyone who gives a damn about U.S. human spaceflight needs to work to get ATK-Astrium's "Liberty" launch vehicle (essentially a privatized Ares I) flying from KSC as soon as possible...

[babygotback519]

@avi31055- he only said that on FOX NEWS.

[avi31055]

is it me or did he say Nignition?

[vcz11]

That's how $7bn of our wasted taxes look like, folks!

[aebeanbag7]

The tumble was actually planned, if the second stage was powered, it would have pulled away and continued to climb out.

[RepublibotThreePoint]

Oh my. The stage separation at 2:19 doesn't seem all that reassuring, does it? I know the upper stage is just a boilerplate, but that kind of tumbling doesn't look...ehm....planned, does it?