Ares 1-X Roll-out Delayed by One Day
NASA managers are assessing whether they can hold to the scheduled October 27 launch of Ares 1-X following a decision to delay roll-out to the launch pad by one day. Roll-out will now take place on October 20 instead of October 19. The delay was caused by a nitrogen gas leak in an accumulator in the aft skirt of the rocket, according to the NASA press release. The accumulator has been replaced.
Ares 1-X is designed to simulate the first two minutes of an Ares 1 launch. It will use a simulated Ares 1 rocket and simulated Orion crew capsule and its launch abort system. Ares 1 and Orion are part of the Constellation program designed to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. The future of the U.S. human space flight program, including Constellation, is under review by the Obama Administration. The final report of the Augustine committee that was created by the White House and NASA to develop options for human space flight is expected to be released imminently.
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