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DAISY: April 12th, 1981,

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the Space Shuttle Columbia is
NASA’s first crewed space

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mission since the end of the
Apollo program.

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But now, nearly 30 years later,
NASA is looking beyond

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the shuttle’s capabilities, and
towards new worlds that

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can only be accessed with new
technology...

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It’s the future of space
exploration...

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And it’s next... on Real
World...

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DAISY: Next generation plans
are well underway in NASA’s

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mission to explore the
universe.

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Constellation.... a multi-space
craft program that includes the
ARES Rockets,

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the Orion Capsule and the
Altair Lander is currently in
prototype and test stage.

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The Constellation program will
take us to the

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international space station,
the Moon, Mars, and beyond,,,

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The Ares 1 rocket, designed to
send astronauts into space,

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is an in-line, two-stage rocket
configuration,

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topped with the Orion crew
vehicle and the most advanced

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launch abort system ever
developed.  The Ares 1 is

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coming together as a prototype
called the Ares 1-X,

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which is nearing flight
readiness.

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The crew vehicle and the launch
abort system for the 1-X

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were designed and built at
NASA’s Langley research Center
in Hampton, Virginia.

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JONATHAN CRUZ: This is the crew
module that has been

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built for the Ares 1-X test
flight.  This has been designed

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and built here at Langley over
the past 2 years.

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DAISY: Jonathan Cruz is the 1-X
Crew Module and Launch

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Abort System Deputy Project
Manager.

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JONATHAN: The primary purpose
of this is to have the shape

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for the aerodynamics and the
mass for the weight of the
vehicle

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and the sensors capture all the
environmental data.

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DAISY: The Sensors built into
the prototype will provide

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data on a number of crucial
aspects of test flights.

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JONATHAN: We can figure out
what the pressure, the
temperature,

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the accelerations are of this
vehicle during flight.

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And all that information will
help us develop the actual

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vehicle that the crew will ride
in.

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DAISY: NASA engineers had to
build the prototype capsule

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to look just like the design of
the final version of the Orion
capsule

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JONATHAN: We were given an Ares
I design, 2 years ago,

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and we have been building this
very exactly and precisely to
that.

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And to ensure it, we had little
lasers that measure dimensions.

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DAISY: NASA engineers had the
shape and size perfect,

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but had to make sure that the
weight was right also.

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For a more simplistic object,
you can calculate center of

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gravity using this formula,
where W=weight,

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and x the location of the
weight.  But working with the

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Ares 1-X was more complicated
than that.

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JONATHAN: We had load cells,
during lifts, where we set it

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down at several points, weigh
that and figure out center of
gravity,

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‘cause not only the overall
weight but how that weight

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is distributed is very
important.

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DAISY: In building the
prototype so specifically NASA
is ensuring

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the final version will be safe
and stable in flight,

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when astronauts begin traveling
into orbit and beyond.

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With that safety theme in mind,
NASA has developed a

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system that will take the crew
out of harms way if the launch
goes wrong.

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JONATHAN: Behind me is our
Launch Abort System Simulator.

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And it fits on top of the crew
module that we just saw.

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The nozzles direct the force
from the rocket that’s built

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inside this launch abort
system, the real one,

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and would pull the crew module
away from the rest of the
launch vehicle.

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Acceleration is on the order of
20 Gs or 20 times the Earth’s
gravity.

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So, it is a very powerful force
to pull it away,

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if there were a problem with
the rocket.

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DAISY: Gravity is the force of
attraction or pull between two
objects.

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It is this force that keeps us
from floating off the planet’s
surface.

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1 g, is one times the force of
gravity.

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Roller coaster rides create
forces up to 4 gs for a brief
period of time.

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That means you feel four times
heavier than normal.

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This is because of
acceleration.

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Acceleration is the change in
velocity over time.

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Velocity has two parts - Speed
and Direction.

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So an object can accelerate by
increasing speed,

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decreasing speed, or changing
direction.

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As the roller coaster speeds
up, slows down and

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changes direction, it is
accelerating.

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The people on the roller
coaster are experience more

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or less force on their bodies
than normal.

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The acceleration on the launch
abort system will create forces

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5 times more than you’d feel on
a roller coaster.

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JONATHAN: When separated, the
Launch Abort System then

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removes itself from the crew
module, the crew module has

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parachutes built in to it that
open up and allow the

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crew to safely float down to
Earth.  Similar as they would

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if they were returning from a
normal space mission.

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For this particular flight,
we’re loading  on a C5 cargo
craft.

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We fly that down to Kennedy. 
We assemble the entire rocket

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in the Vehicle Assemble
Building.

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DAISY: During the Ares 1-X test
launch, the rocket will

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climb about 40 kilometers up
during a 2 minute powered
flight,

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culminating with the separation
of the first stage from the
rocket.

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JONATHAN: From that launch, we
collect the 2 minutes of

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powered flight data and all of
that will be used to

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compare to our analysis tools
to see what the real flight
data versus that.

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We can use that to continue
development.  And the plans

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are by 2015 to have crew in

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this being launched into orbit
on the final vehicle.

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DAISY: NASA has high hopes for
the Ares I rocket

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and all of the components of
Constellation.

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JONATHAN: Everything is based
on math, so it's kind of neat

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seeing how numbers on paper
come to something like this,

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that is real exciting and is
going to fly into space.

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DAISY: You can keep track of
the progress at www.nasa.com

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