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New NASA rocket launches successfully

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s newest rocket successfully completed a brief test flight Wednesday, the first step in a back-to-the-moon program that could yet be shelved by the White House.

The Air Force’s 45th Space Wing of Patrick Air Force Base assisted with the launch of the 327-foot Ares I-X rocket.

Airmen, civilians and contractors provided weather forecasts, launch and range operations, safety and public affairs. The wing also provided its vast network of radar, telemetry, optical and communications instrumentation to facilitate a safe launch.

Nearly twice the height of the spaceship it’s supposed to replace — the shuttle — the skinny experimental rocket carried no passengers or payload, only throwaway ballast and hundreds of sensors. The flight cost $445 million.

NASA said the flight was a tremendous success, based on early indications.

“Oh, man. Well, how impressive is that,” said Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA’s space frontier program, known as Constellation. “You’ve accomplished a great step forward for exploration,” he told launch controllers.

It was the first time in nearly 30 years that a new rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center. Columbia made the maiden voyage for the shuttle fleet back in 1981.

Liftoff, in fact, occurred 48 years and one day after the first launch of a Saturn rocket, a precursor to what carried astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program. The Saturn V moon rockets were the tallest ever built, an impressive 363 feet.

Wednesday’s launch, three years in the making, represented the first step in NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the moon. The White House, though, is re-evaluating the human spaceflight program and may dump the Ares I in favor of another type of rocket and possibly another destination.

The prototype moon rocket took off through a few clouds from a former shuttle launch pad at 11:30 a.m., 3½ hours late because of bad weather. Launch controllers had to retest the rocket systems after more than 150 lightning strikes were reported around the pad overnight. Then they had to wait out interfering rain clouds, the same kind that thwarted a prior attempt on Tuesday

The ballistic flight did not come close to reaching space and, as expected, lasted a mere two minutes. It will take months to analyze all the data from the approximately 725 pressure, strain and acceleration sensors.

The upper portion of the rocket — all fake parts — were hurtled to an estimated altitude of 28 miles and then fell uncontrolled into the ocean. Those pieces were never meant to be retrieved.

NASA contends the Ares I will be ready to carry astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015, four to five years after the shuttles are retired. But a panel of experts said in a report to President Barack Obama last week that it will be more like 2017, and stressed that the entire effort is underfunded.

The first Ares moon trip would be years beyond that under the current plan.

“The success of this test launch helps to pave the way for future space exploration,” Brig. Gen. Edward L. Bolton, Jr., 45th Space Wing commander, said in a statement. “We’re very pleased to continue supporting NASA and its partners as we write the next chapter in human space flight.”