[FPSPACE] Ares 1/Ares 5 or Direct?

[E.P. Grondine]

Hi all - 

The question is which shuttle derived launch vehicle to develop.

Well, the latest PR spin is that only the EELVs are "military rockets", pretending as though Ares 1 would not be, and that NASA has not been supporting Thiokol's entry into commercial and defense launches. 

How did we get in this mess? Well, there's this short overview:

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/ares.htm

Note especially the rescaling of the CEV. 

Right now Option A is to stay the course, and spend an additional $2 billion to close the gap, and then spend more to try and get Ares 5 to work.

Option B is to fly the shuttle for 2 more years, go with EELVs for ISS manned flight, and then Direct with the CEV.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas

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