Ares 1 is being reborn in form of NGIS Omega.
Lil bit late, but is there a diagram/image providing information on the planned Constellation missions (Orion, Ares I-X/I-X Prime, AA 1-4, etc.) and their dates/objectives? Thanks in advance!
I wanted to ask whether the Ares rocket and other components of the Constellation program would have proceeded on schedule, especially in terms of a first orbital launch for the Ares I, if the Iraq War had not taken place because the US involvement in Iraq unintentionally put some strains on the NASA budget for the Constellation program.
Quote from: Vahe231991 on 06/25/2022 03:17 pmI wanted to ask whether the Ares rocket and other components of the Constellation program would have proceeded on schedule, especially in terms of a first orbital launch for the Ares I, if the Iraq War had not taken place because the US involvement in Iraq unintentionally put some strains on the NASA budget for the Constellation program.What schedule?The Ares I concept was as bad as the SLS, in that Michael Griffin needed an excuse to spend money on SRB's that would ultimately be needed for the Ares V, so he created the Ares I. But the Ares I was a bad concept from the start, and demonstrated by the attached image, which showed that the only constant in the Ares I was the SRB - everything else was looked at for being changed.And let's not forget that Michael Griffin had also lied about whether the Delta IV Heavy could fly the Orion spacecraft, because he wanted the Ares I to be the only launch vehicle for the Orion. However because the Ares I was a flawed concept from the start, and because NASA had to keep making changes to the Ares I, that meant that the Orion had to keep changing in design too. And the cost of those changes is part of the reason why the Constellation program was cancelled.So the bottom line is that regardless whether the Ares I could have flown, it should NEVER have been allowed to become operational. And the SLS program is repeating the same mistakes...
I wanted to emphasize whether the NASA budget would have been able to fund the Constellation program into the 2010s had the US not gone to war in Iraq given that the Iraq War unintentionally caused the NASA budget for the Space Shuttle and Constellation programs to be tight.