NASA MISSION UPDATE
The Ares I-X now is secured on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test rocket, sitting on a mobile launcher platform, was “hard down†on the pad’s pedestals at 9:17 a.m. EDT. The rotating service structure is expected to be rolled into place at about 12:30 p.m.
In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a time lapse camera documented the buildup of the Ares I-X flight test rocket. The first video was on Nov. 3, 2008 and the final video was on Aug. 30, 2009.
ATK PRESS RELEASE
For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a new space vehicle will begin stacking on a mobile launch platform (MLP) at Kennedy Space Center, thanks to the hard work and dedication of an experienced team of employees from NASA and contractors United Space Alliance (USA) and Alliant Techsystems [NYSE: ATK].
Vibration Analysis Delays Ares I-X Stacking
Aviation Week
Crews at Kennedy Space Center will wait to start stacking the Ares I-X test vehicle so engineers will have more time to analyze three vibration-loads issues that could threaten range safety during its suborbital test flight, which probably will slip into October.
Moon rocket test is on shaky ground
Orlando Sentinel
The violent shaking that threatens to destroy the Ares I rocket that NASA hopes will one day return astronauts to the moon is also threatening to delay — or even cancel — the first flight of its test version, the Ares I-X.
Air Force officials who have safety jurisdiction over all launches from Kennedy Space Center are worried that the rocket’s vibrations could knock out the self-destruct mechanism required in case the launch goes awry.
