This story was updated at 5:05 p.m. EDT.
NASA's first
version of the rocket slated to replace the space shuttle and send astronauts back to the moon will make its debut test launch Oct. 27, four days
early, the space agency announced Tuesday.
The rocket,
a demonstration booster called
Ares I-X, was previously scheduled to blast off Oct. 31, but
engineers preparing the booster were able to complete work in time for the
earlier liftoff, NASA officials said. Launch is set for 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT)
on Tuesday, Oct. 27 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"They are
doing a launch countdown simulation today," NASA spokesperson Amber Philman
told SPACE.com from the spaceport. "That's ongoing as we speak."
Philman
said the current launch target must still be finalized by mission managers during
a series of review meetings in coming weeks. Engineers padded their work
schedule by two full weeks to handle any unexpected glitches
while priming Ares I-X for an Oct. 31 flight, but ultimately did not need some of that buffer, which allowed the earlier date,
she added.
NASA's
new rocket
The Ares I
rocket is a two-stage booster designed to launch the
Orion spacecraft, which NASA plans to replace its three aging space
shuttles once they retire in the next year or two. It stands about 327 feet
(100 meters) tall - 14 stories higher than launch-ready shuttles - when fully
assembled.
NASA has
said that the rocket and its Orion vehicles will not be ready to ferry
astronauts to orbit until at least 2015, but a White House-appointed committee that
evaluated the agency's exploration plans this summer has said that date could
likely slip to 2017.
The
committee has submitted a set of five options to overhaul NASA's spaceflight
plan for President Barack Obama's review. Some of them do not include the Ares
I rocket. NASA's
vision of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 is critically underfunded and
would require at least $3 billion a year in extra funding just to meet the lunar goal by the mid-2020s, the committee
has said.
Earlier
this year, NASA had hoped to launch the Ares I-X flight in July or August, but had to
push the test back several times. Not so for the Oct. 27 target, Philman said.
"Everything
is looking good with the hardware," Philman said. "They've done the power up of
the vehicle and that test went well."
The Ares I's
first stage is a giant solid rocket similar to the four-segment boosters used to launch
NASA space shuttles, but with an extra fifth segment for more power. The second
stage is a liquid-fueled engine that would push Orion capsules to orbit.
NASA conducted the first successful test firing of the Ares I rocket's first stage on Sept. 10.
For the
Ares I-X test flight, NASA has built a four-segment first stage capped with a
dummy fifth segment, as well as a dummy second stage. The launch is designed to
demonstrate the rocket's launch concept, ground processing and stage
separation.
The test
flight is expected to reach an altitude of about 25 miles (40 km) in about two
minutes, with 700 onboard sensors recording its performance. After the first
stage separates, the dummy upper stage and Orion simulator will crash into the
Atlantic Ocean.
NASA plans
to roll the Ares I-X rocket out to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Oct.
19. The pad has been refitted to host the Ares I-X rocket with the finishing touches to be completed by next week.
"They
should be ready at the pad by the end of the month," Philman said.
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