NASA Preps for Ares I-X Rocket Launch

Engineers made final preparations Tuesday morning for the long-awaited launch of NASA's towering Ares I-X rocket - the 33-story centerpiece of a $445 million test flight expected to generate valuable engineering data for development of a post-shuttle replacement.

The planned launch comes on the heels of a report by a presidential panel of space experts that concluded NASA's current plans to build new Ares rockets and establish bases on the moon by the early 2020s is not feasible without an additional $3 billion to $6 billion a year.

The slender Ares I-X, its second stage wider than the first, stands twice as tall as a space shuttle "stack." But its pencil-thin appearance quickly led to a somewhat derisive nickname: the "stick."

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