Ares 1-X Upper Stage Arrives At The Cape

The Upper Stage Simulator for the first test flight of the Ares 1 rocket will be at Kennedy Space Center this week after a long journey from Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tentatively set for launch July 12 from KSC's launch pad 39B, the $360 million Ares 1-X mission will test first stage flight control systems of NASA's new moon rocket as well as the system that separates the first and second stages of the vehicle and the first-stage parachute recovery system.

The 327-foot vehicle comprises a four-segment shuttle solid rocket boosters, an inert fifth segment and aerodynamically exact copies of the Ares 1 second stage, the Orion spacecraft and a launch abort system that tops the rocket.

The replicas simulate the mass and outer mold lines of the rocket that will propel American astronauts on round trips to the moon no later than 2020.

Components that make up the Upper Stage Simulator arrived at Port Canaveral on Tuesday aboard the Delta Mariner, a ship that also transports Delta 4 rocket components for United Launch Alliance.

The joint partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing fly Delta 4 rockets from Launch Complex 37 and Atlas 5 rockets at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Upper Stage Simulator began its journey Oct. 22 on the Ohio River, and the Delta Mariner traveled down the Mississippi River and then through the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean before it arrived at Port Canaveral.

NASA expects to have all of the hardware delivered to High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building by the end of business Thursday.

The Upper Stage Simulator consists of 11 components that represent the size, outer shape and weight of the second stage of the Ares 1 rocket.

Take a look at this NASA drawing that shows how the parts of the Upper Stage Simulator and the rest of the Ares 1-X test vehicle fit together: Ares 1 Schematic.

The Ares I-X test flight is the first of several in a series that will be carried out before the first piloted flight of the rocket and an Apollo-style Orion crew capsule in March 2015.

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge and save the NASA images of the Delta Mariner, which arrived at Port Canaveral Tueday with its cargo of the Ares I-X Upper Stage Simulator segments. The simulator comprises 11 segments that are approximately 18 feet in diameter. Most of the segments will be approximately 10 feet high, ranging in weight from 18,000 to 60,000 pounds, for a total of approximately 450,000 pounds. They'll make up about 100 feet of the 327-foot test vehicle. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis.