"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:13:51 -0400, "Jeff Findley"
wrote:

Actually, even the outer mold-lines of the Orion and its launch escape
tower
is different than what is planned for Ares I. This whole Ares I-X flight
really is little more than a stunt.

Then so was the first Saturn I launch. The engines and tankage were
all flight-proven, everything above Stage 1 was dummy, and the payload
mockup didn't share Apollo's outer moldline.

No one calls SA-1 a stunt.

True, but in that case NASA needed to launch the Saturn I first stage for
the first time as a flight test. Cluster's last stand needed to prove
itself a bit before trusting it with an upper stage and an Apollo CSM.

Shuttle SRB's have flown many times. The question of Ares I-X is how much
will be learned from this flight which will be applicable to Ares I? I
suppose the jury is still out on that and we'll have to wait and see how the
flight goes and what is learned from the data gathered.

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon