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| Ares I-X |
Mission insignia
 |
| Mission statistics |
| Mission name |
Ares I-X |
| Launch pad |
39-B |
| Launch date |
April 15, 2009 |
| Landing |
none |
| Mission duration |
2 minutes |
| Related missions |
| Previous mission |
Next mission |
| None |
Ares I-Y |
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Ares I-X will be a test flight in the Ares I spacecraft development program. The test flight vehicle will be similar to the planned Ares I. The flight is scheduled for April 2009.[1]
[edit] Test objectives
Ares I–X is planned to be the first test flight of a vehicle like the Ares I. The test flight objectives are focused on first-stage flight dynamics, controllability, and separation of the first and upper stages. By flying the vehicle through first stage, the test flight will also verify the performance and dynamics of the shuttle’s solid rocket booster in “single stick” arrangement. (The usual shuttle configuration is two rocket boosters with one external fuel tank.)
[edit] Ares I-X description
The Ares I–X vehicle will consist of a functional four segment solid rocket booster stage, a fifth segment mass simulator, and an upper stage mass simulator, which will be similar in shape and equal in total mass to the actual upper stage. Since the actual upper stage hardware cannot be produced in time for the flight test, the upper stage mass simulator will allow the booster to fly approximately the same trajectory through the first stage of flight. The dummy "Orion" capsule launched by the Ares I-X will not be recovered because NASA will install dummy parachutes.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
