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Nasa launches rocket successfully Nasa launches rocket successfully
(10 minutes later)
The US space agency has launched a prototype rocket designed to replace the ageing space shuttle. The US space agency (Nasa) has launched a prototype rocket designed to replace the ageing space shuttle.
The Ares I-X blasted off at exactly 1530 GMT to test technology crucial for the development of a manned craft that could return astronauts to the Moon. The Ares I-X blasted off from Florida on a flight which will test technology for the development of a future manned launch vehicle
The slender, 100m-tall vehicle is the first new launcher that Nasa has built in more than three decades. The stick-thin, 100m-tall rocket soared into the sky at 1530 GMT from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center.
However, the project's long-term future is uncertain and could conceivably be cancelled in the coming months. The rocket is the first Nasa has built in more than three decades, but its long-term future in uncertain.
The 1-X was designed to climb about 40km (25 miles) into the sky during the powered phase of its flight.
It carried more than 700 sensors to measure vehicle aerodynamics, controls and performance of the rocket's first stage.
The top half of the rocket is a dummy. What would be an upper-stage, with a crew capsule and its emergency escape mechanism are simulators made to the correct shape and weight.