Ares was a family of rockets which formed part of NASA's Exploration Systems Architecture Study and Vision for Space Exploration, and which were under development as part of Constellation Program until the program's cancellation in 2010. The family was intended to consist of the Ares I, primarily intended to launch the manned Orion spacecraft, and the Ares V, which was intended to launch the Altair lunar lander, and provide an Earth Departure Stage to send the Orion and Altair to the Moon.
Development edit
Rockets edit
Ares I edit
Ares I-X edit
Ares I-X was a prototype of the Ares I, consisting of a four-segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster with an inert fifth segment to simulate the Ares I first stage, a battleship second stage, avionics from an Atlas V rocket, and a boilerplate Orion spacecraft.
Launched from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on 28 October 2009, it was intended to demonstrate the early flight characteristics of the Ares I, in support of its development.