For the first time in more than a quarter-century, a new space vehicle will begin stacking on a mobile launch platform (MLP) at Kennedy Space Center, all due to the hard work and dedication of an experienced team of employees from NASA and contractors United Space Alliance (USA) and Alliant Techsystems.
The Ares I-X aft skirt, which was mated to a solid fuel segment in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at KSC, rolled over to the 528-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be lifted and placed on the MLP in High Bay 3. On that platform, workers will secure the aft booster and continue adding segments of the first stage rocket, the upper stage simulators, the crew module mockup, and the launch abort system simulator, taking the vehicle to a height of 327 feet. Once complete, the Ares I-X rocket will roll to Launch Pad 39B for the first test flight of the vehicle later this year. This vehicle is part of NASA‘s Constellation Program, which aims to send humans back to the Moon and beyond. The Ares I-X test flight is aimed primarily at testing the performance of the first stage rocket. USA is teamed with ATK on the design, production, and processing of the Ares I First Stage. Assembly and integration work on the Ares I-X aft skirt, forward assembly and fifth motor segment simulator, the deceleration parachutes, the thrust Vector control subsystem hardware and the avionics and pyrotechnics was performed at KSC. The four solid motor segments were delivered by ATK from its Utah facility.
