The Ares I-X rollout began a little after 1:30 am EDT on Tuesday morning at Kennedy Space Center as planned. NASA TV was running the event live, and it was great to see the long, slender test rocket slowly edge along the crawlerway to begin its overnight journey to launchpad 39B.
Despite the pessimism surrounding the Constellation Program, I for one am very excited to see the Ares I-X blast off. It will be a sight to remember.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to post an update on the progress of Discovery’s continuing delay, but when I saw this photo I couldn’t resist. In the shot, you can see the pad floodlights and a flash of lightning. Outstanding.
So, the next launch window is looking like it’s going to be at 11:59pm (EDT) Friday night. This will give launch crews some time to analyse results from tests they are carrying out on the potentially faulty valve that caused the previous launch scrub. However, NASA is hopeful the fault is with the sensors giving false readings rather than an engineering fault with the valve itself.
For more shuttle launch updates, keep an eye on Irene Klotz’s Free Space blog…
astroengine.com 