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NASA looks forward after Ares 1-X launch

By Liz Hurley - bio | email

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - The pride of Huntsville was on display for the world to see Wednesday.

Eyes cast skyward as the Ares 1-X rocket roared into the Florida sunshine today.

But as those eyes and emotions come back to Earth, there's still much work to be done to design and develop the Ares 1 rocket and work to prove that this is the rocket America needs.

"How cool is this Ares 1-X flight test?" asked Doug Cooke, Assistant Administrator for Exploration.

After two days of stop and go, hurry up and wait, the launch was a go.

"The vehicle was ready to fly both days. All we had to do was wait for Mother Nature to get us there," said Launch Director Ed Mango.

NASA mission managers finally lit the candle on the first test flight of what could be the country's next generation space vehicle.

But questions still remain. Questions about the Ares 1 design- roll torque stabilization, tribo-electrification, thrust oscillation- all concerns for engineers that were dealt with in this launch.

"This is the first time this has been done by a human space flight team in a long time," explained Doug Cooke.

One unexpected event came at separation.

The booster fell away and tumbled as expected, but the dummy upper stage didn't continue on its trajectory and started tumbling as well.

"It's not unheard of in our simulations. If you simulate a higher rate at separation or a higher angle at separation, you could get that effect. So, we've seen it before in our simulations," said Mission Manager Bob Ess.

On the longer term, there are the questions of the Augustine Report.

NASA was ordered to continue full speed ahead as that presidential panel determined that some of their work may be misguided.

"This test will be of value, regardless of any decisions in the future," said Doug Cooke.

"So what we've learned even before launching was of incredible value. The experience of the team is incredibly valuable," explained Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley.

With a test like this, you can feel some of the tangible excitement, some of the pure passion that many say the space program has been missing

"So today what you saw is the first step which is what I told my team post launch was they helped prove that anything is possible," said Ed Mango.  

"We did it for Apollo, we did it for shuttle, now we're ready to do it again. So this is the time, so come join us," Bob Ess added.

You can call Ares 1-X a very visible display of what NASA can do in air and space.

Now managers work on the ground in Washington to convince the President that what they're doing is the right path to pursue.

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