Constellation test plans announced

With a series of tests, NASA's new rocket is on track for a 2013 trip to the International Space Station.


NASA officials unveiled an ambitious testing schedule that potentially narrows the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the introduction of the Ares I rocket carrying humans.


The Ares I possibly will carry a test crew to the International Space Station in Sept. 2013, only three years after the shuttle program ends in 2010. The third and final Ares I test flight will be in September of 2014. Flights before 2015 are test flights, but the tests at least give the U.S. only a three-year gap without a vehicle capable of flight to the ISS.

NASA has spread the work for the Ares across the 10 NASA sites, including Kennedy Space Center, where work on the parachutes is taking place.

"We're managing three major programs together. (shuttle, ISS and Constellation). We're distributing the work," said deputy manager of the Constellation program Mark Geyer.

The long, skinny rocket uses a solid rocket booster, similar to the shuttle's, to push the the second stage and crew vehicle toward orbit. The SRB will burn for just 120 seconds before falling in the ocean.

"We believe the trajectory works just fine in this case," said Geyer.

The Constellation program begins with six development flight tests through February 2011 and continues with five validation flight tests that end in September of 2014.

"As long as things go relatively well, we can make it," said Bob Ess, manager of the Ares 1-X Project.

Funding from Congress is one of the program's intangibles.

Milestones include:
April 2009 - Testing an escape tower.
Sept. 2012 - First unmanned test of the rocket.
Sept. 2013 - First test flight to the ISS.
Mar. 2014 - Second manned test flight.
Sept. 2014 - Third manned test flight.

In December, the final design decisions on the Orion spacecraft and the crew vehicle will be made. Some 5,000 pounds has been trimmed from the crew module and second stage.

"Our big challenge was to get the weight down," said Mark Kirasich, deputy manager of the Orion Project. "We've made substantial progress in the past couple of months."