First In NASA's 'Constellation' Launches

By ANN Correspondent Wes Oleszewski

As the big countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center ticked past T minus four minutes there was a collective sigh of cautious relief. The Ares I-X launch vehicle stood out there on Pad 39B more than willing and able to fly, yet just a day earlier those same countdown clocks had gone past the four minute mark only to be held short of launch as the weather went "red."

Now, however, there would be no cut-off, no hold and no call of "red." This time the clock would go to zero and the big solid fueled first stage would erupt in a brilliant flame that would rival the Florida sun. Now it was the Ares I-X's turn to prove what it could do- and it put on a real show.

Tuesday, October 27th, was set as the original launch date for the Ares I-X. From a cargo ship straying into the danger area to the soon to be hated call of " triboelectrification," factors having almost nothing to do with the vehicle would cause the entire day to dwindle to a scrub on that date. By the following day and another try at launching the Ares I-X, triboelectrification had become nearly a curse word at KSC- as in "Go triboelectrification yourself!"

The term, signifying conditions where the vehicle moving through high altitude icy clouds can build up a static charge that can interfere with radio signals, actually has nothing to do with vehicle limitations- in fact it is a Range Safety issue. There was a concern that if Range Safety needed to transmit the Command Destruct signal after the vehicle had encountered triboelectrification conditions, the signal may not get through to the destruct packages. So, NASA planners simply worked around the issue by placing a limitation in the launch conditions that would not allow the Ares I-X to be launched when triboelectrification conditions existed. That limitation would later come back and triboelectrification them.

On the second day's attempt at launching the Ares I-X, ocean freighters were kept clear of the danger area, the weather started out good and stayed good- with one exception… triboelectrification. As T-38s flew into the weather areas, which were thin patches of clouds, the weather calls kept going from green to red right up to the point where there was just one last chance for a launch before NASA and the Ares I-X's reservation of the Eastern Test Range expired for the day, and perhaps for the next month.

With just 30 minutes left in the range time, the Ares I-X finally hit zero and roared from the pad. Standing 327 feet tall, the gleaming white rocket lifted with a grace that was somewhat slower than most of us expected. It immediately entered into a programmed yaw or "fly-away maneuver" designed to keep it clear of the launch tower. Twenty seconds later, and just as the sound began hitting those who were there to watch, the yaw was complete and the Ares I-X was punching a hole in the sky.

As the vehicle transitioned through Mach 1 the atmospheric moisture that was condensed out by the transitional shock wave was clearly visible to the naked eye. In slightly more than two minutes the first stage had consumed its propellant, tail-off and burn out followed. Then, as planned, the stages separated. For the spectators at KSC as well as those who were in the area watching, the Ares I-X had put on a terrific show.

Similar to the previous week's roll-out, even hardcore veterans of dozens of launches were excited by this launch. It was the tallest rocket launched by the United States since May of 1973 when the Skylab Saturn V was launched.

Although the important part of this flight will be the data gathered and the procedures that have been developed, of almost equal importance is "the show." The American public, the Congress, and the office of the President do not understand things such as thrust oscillation, roll inertia, or even triboelectrification.

What they DO understand, however, is a new, brilliant white rocket streaking across the blue Florida sky like an arrow to the future. In a line from "The Right Stuff" the rhetorical question is asked, what makes this go up? And the answer is "Funding." Like everything else in that movie, this is only partly correct. The real answer is "Funding" and the will of the American people. The Ares I-X gave the American people a show that they just may remember.

FMI: www.nasa.gov