Ares I - Crew Launch Vehicle

Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket topped by the orion capsule, its service module and a launch abort system. The combination of the rocket's configuration and launch abort system will improve the crew's safety.

The launch vehicle's first stage is a single, five-segment reusable solid rocket booster. This booster is derived from the Space Shuttle Program's four-segment reusable solid rocket booster, which burns a specially formulated and shaped solid propellant called polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN). A newly designed foward adapter called a frustum will mate the vehicle's first stage to the second, and will be equipped with booster seperation motors to disconnect the stages during ascent.

The second, or upper, stage is much like the upper stage for the Ares V cargo launch vehicles. The Ares I upper stage propelled by the same J-2X main engine used to propel the Ares V Earth Departure Stage. The J-2X engine is fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

There are two missions for the Ares I rocket. The first is lofting up to six astronauts (or cargo) to the International Space station, approximately 52,000 pounds. The second mission is lofting up to four astronauts to low-Earth orbit for rondezvous with the Ares V Earth departure stage for missions to the moon, approximately 56,000 pounds.

During the first two-and-a-half minutes of flight, the first stage booster powers the vehicle to an altitude of about 189,000 feet (36 miles) and a speed of Mach 4.8. After the propellant is spent, the reusable booster seperates and the stage's J-2X engine ingnites to power the Orion spacecraft to an altitude of about 425,328 feet (80 miles). Then, the upperstage seperates and the Orion's service module propulsion system completes the trip to a circular orbit of 976,800 feet (185 miles) above Earth.

Once in orbit, Orion and the service module will rendezvous and dock either with the International Space Station or with the Altair lunar lander and Earth departure stage, which will send the astronauts on their way to the moon.

The first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, is scheduled for 2009. The first crewed flight of Orion is planned for no later than 2015, with crew transportation to the space station following within the same decade and the first lunar mission scheduled for the 2020 timeframe.