NASA Test Launches Ares 1-X

[Thagarr]

NASA successfully tested the Ares 1-X this morning, the first steps to going back to the moon and on to Mars!

 

[rupertlittlebear]

looks exactly like a lengthened Shuttle

with the Naughty Bits removed

 

[carmenara]

It's a pretty clever design, utilising as much existing hardware as possible. It's pretty much a Shuttle SRB turned into a launcher, and making it work like that is not as easy as it looks!

The space industry is in a pretty sad state in terms of pop culture - where a decade ago tales and ideas of space exploration thrilled the young, these days they prefer gawking at nonsensical pop idols instead of focusing on what really matters - a joint vision to advance humankind. As a result, cultural sophistication in general has taken a quantum leap backwards. I've become a relic of old world charm because of that, and if I sound star-trekky, that's because I pretty much grew up with Voyager