Ares I Rocket Test Flight Facing Five Week Delay

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - The first test flight of NASA's new ARES I
launch vehicle faces a five-week slip, constellation program officals
said today. Delays in the production of new external tanks for the
space shuttle will likely force a delay in the upcoming Hubble Space
Telescope servicing mission and cause a domino effect on preparations
for the Ares I-X flight currently targeted for next April.

News of the potential schedule slip came Monday during a
teleconference with project managers in NASA's Project constellation
office.

The Ares I-X test flight is currently targeted to blastoff from
Kennedy Space Center's Launch complex 39-B around April 15, 2009. The
launch pad hasn't been used since Discovery's STS-116 launch in
December, 2006.

No more space shuttle launches are scheduled to take place from the
pad, but it can't be modified to accommodate the Ares I-X flight until
after space shuttle Atlantis mission to service Hubble later this
year.

Before the launch pad can be handed over to Constellation, the shuttle
program will require its availability to mount a mission to rescue the
crew of Atlantis should that orbiter become disabled or experience
serious damage that would prevent a safe re-entry.

The full article and audio is available online here:
http://www.spacearium.com/article.php?story=20080518165726838
.

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