ATK, the makers of the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters is joining force with European aerospace company Astrium/EADS, the makers of the Ariane 5 rocket, to propose a new rocket to launch US astronauts into space after the Space Shuttle retires later this year. The new Liberty rocket would be operational in 2015.
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| Ares I |
The design looks awfully like the defunct Ares I from the Constellation moon program, but it makes sense, since ATK would be able to reuse the design of the five segment SRB first stage developed for the Ares I, and Astrium would use the second stage of the man-rated and very reliable Ariane 5.
Now they still need to develop a crew module to put on top of it. Maybe Lockheed Martin will resurrect the Orion spacecraft too?...
More info on the BBC News web site.
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