images

Ares 1 rocket - Artist view

by

Lockheed Martin Corp/Novapix

Reference

e-exl01-20001

Date

2006-12-10

Ares I is specifically being designed to launch the Orion Crew Vehicle which is intended as a crew capsule to transport astronauts to the International Space Station, the Moon and eventually Mars. The rocket is scheduled to be launched by 2014. The NASA's Project Constellation plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars ; each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts.