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hi i'm john coward at nasa's kennedy

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space center in florida i'm the deputy

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mission manager for the aries 1x flight

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test ares 1x or simply 1x as we call it

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is like a midterm exam for us the flight

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test is designed to show us whether we

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are on the right track in building the

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next system to lift astronauts into

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space

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now there won't be any astronauts on

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board the one x when it lifts off from

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pad 39b here at kennedy but our

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attention to every detail will be

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intense

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the ares 1x is 327 feet tall and uses a

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solid rocket booster as a first stage

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but where later rockets will have an

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operational upper stage and apollo style

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spacecraft atop the booster the ares 1x

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uses weight simulators instead

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the idea is to test the ability of the

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booster rocket to lift the upper stage

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and spacecraft the fight also will show

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us whether it will separate safely

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so where does onex fit

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basically it's the most detailed test we

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have attempted in the program to this

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point

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there are thousands of engineers

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technicians and others working at nasa

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centers around the united states on the

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effort

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so we know there are a lot of challenges

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with this areas 1x flight test that's

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all right nasa's launched plenty of

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firsts

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although nasa has been launching

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astronauts into space since 1961 the

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space agency started with rockets that

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did not carry anyone

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after all there were no sophisticated

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computers that could accurately predict

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exactly what would happen after engines

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were ignited so engineers tested rockets

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often to see how they'd work sometimes

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the design worked well

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sometimes they didn't

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but each launch was a learning

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experience and researchers quickly

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learned from the problems and advanced

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each design until they were comfortable

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enough to start putting payloads aboard

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nasa sent its first satellite into orbit

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explorer 1 in 1958 the rockets weren't

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perfect yet but they made progress

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alan shepard became the first american

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in space in 1961 riding in a mercury

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capsule perched on a redstone rocket

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more successes followed including the

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launch of the first american to orbit

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the earth john glenn in february 1962

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each launch added to the record of

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achievement and soon it was time for

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nasa to test its largest rocket ever the

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saturn v

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confident of the design engineers took

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the unusual step for the time of testing

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the rocket and its three stages all at

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once the first time up

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the test launches were loaded with

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instruments and cameras that was in case

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something unexpected happened engineers

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could have something to evaluate the

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problem for the saturn 5 the cameras

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returned some of the most spectacular

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images of the historic apollo program

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saturn's successes were still being

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recorded as nasa engineers set about

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developing its replacement a reusable

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craft that glided back to earth

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that design would become the space

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shuttle

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just like with the previous rockets the

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shuttle underwent extensive testing

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the glide back to earth had to be

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evaluated firsthand

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in a break with previous crude

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spacecraft though the first complete

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shuttle stack was launched with

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astronauts on board

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john young and robert crippen put the

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shuttle design through its first paces

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in space during sts-1 in april 1981.

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now with those experiences of the past

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as a guide the stage has been set for

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the ares 1x flight test

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we've stacked the experimental rocket

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carefully and already have run a number

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of tests on it as it stood high inside

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kennedy's vehicle assembly building

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and we've modified one of the launch

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pads that used to host shuttles and

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apollo rockets

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just like we've done since the first

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saturn 5 launch we used a crawler

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transporter to carefully move 1x out to

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the launch pad

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in short we at nasa know we have a big

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test coming up and we are ready for it

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this is an exciting time for us because

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it is an early payoff for a significant

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amount of work we've already carried out

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on this program it's also an exciting

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time for the nation because this new

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rocket will give us a fresh look at

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possible ways to reach beyond earth

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orbit thanks for joining us today from