Getting Ready

The Ares I-X rocket stands
The Ares I-X rocket stands tall inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Part of the Constellation Program, the Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is the essential core of a space transportation system that eventually will carry crewed missions back to the moon, on to Mars and out into the solar system.