i-x

In this case, the Ares I-X took a ride on one of two crawlers built to carry around the Saturn V rockets that sent astronauts to the moon.

The Ares I-X rocket is poised to launch on a suborbital test flight on Oct. 27 and rolled out to its launching pad earlier this week.

NASA hopes Ares I-X will signal the beginning of a brave new era for space exploration.

Like the Ares I-X and NASA shuttles, the towering Saturn V launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The risk of a disaster at the Ares I-X launch pad has been assessed, Shannon said, but should not endanger Atlantis.

It? ll get up and go a bit faster than the shuttle does, ? said Ares I-X launch director Ed Mango.

But the Ares I-X and Ares I rockets are by no means the largest rockets ever built.

Generally speaking we don? t put two vehicles out [at once], ? Jon Cowart, Ares I-X deputy mission manager, told SPACE. com.

The Ares I-X dummy second stage is expected to crash into the ocean about 147 miles (236 km) east of the launch pad.

The Ares I-X flight is the first of three planned test flights for the Ares I rocket.

About 40 percent of all new rockets end in failure, NASA has said, and Ares I-X is not exempt from those chances.

The gleaming white Ares I-X, at its core, is a giant solid rocket booster.

But unlike that first shuttle flight, Ares I-X will be unmanned.

In addition to Tuesday's Ares I-X launch test, launch abort system tests are scheduled to begin in 2010, NASA officials have said.

Standing at 327 feet (100 meters), Ares I-X is a towering rocket ? and currently the world? s tallest booster in service.

Ares I-X stands 327 feet (100 meters) high, making it the tallest rocket currently in service.

There are 700 sensors on the Ares I-X rocket to measure things like vibration, speed, performance and other data.

The Ares I-X weighs 1. 8 million pounds (816, 466 kg), slightly less than the full Ares I rocket.