Put simply, NASA had jurisdiction over the Merritt Island Launch Area, the SATURN program and SATURN facilities on Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral. Though TITAN Complex 41 extended across the Cape Canaveral boundary into NASA's territory on Merritt Island, all property within Complex 41's security fence and along the access road to the site was considered part of the Air Force's Titan III program. NASA and the Department of Defense signed an agreement in January 1963 which acknowledged the Air Force's jurisdiction over all TITAN III construction at the north end of Cape Canaveral. Since that time, and with required upgrades, they supported the TITAN 34D and TITAN IV. When these facilities were initially constructed in the early 60's, they supported the TITAN IIIC vehicle. The primary facilities in the ITL area include the Vertical Integration Build (VIB) (where the core vehicles and payloads are assembled) the Solid Motor Assembly Building (SMAB) (where the solid motors are built up from their individual segments) the Solid Motor Assembly and Readiness Facility (SMARF) (where the core vehicles and the solids are mated) and the pad's themselves. NASA reported that all test objectives were met, although the first stage was damaged when it impacted the Atlantic Ocean, due to a recovery parachute malfunction.Now known as SLC-40 and SLC-41, these complexes were built as part of an Integrate-Transfer-Launch (ITL) facility and are located at the north end of CCAS. The first stage was recovered via parachute about 150 miles downrange of the launch site. During the 2-minute test flight, the vehicle flew to a maximum altitude of 28 miles. The rocket carried approximately 700 sensors to measure flight dynamics. The rocket also carried an unpowered fifth segment SRB simulator, an upper stage simulator (USS), simulated Orion Crew Module (CM) and simulated Launch Abort System (LAS). This stage was directly adapted from the Space Shuttle SRB. The Ares I-X consisted of a powered four-segment solid rocket booster (SRB) as first stage. The first and only Ares I-X rocket was launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B on October 28, 2009. Date of First Cape Canaveral Launch: October 28, 2009ĭate of Final Cape Canaveral Launch: October 28, 2009Īres I-X was a single-stage test vehicle designed to validate flight dynamics of the Ares I, a rocket intended to carry astronauts into space as part of the NASA Constellation program, a follow-up to the Space Shuttle program.
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