NASA's Ares I rocket passes design review

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says the Ares 1 rocket that will launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle has passed its preliminary design review.

Starting in 2015, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ares I rocket will begin launching the exploration vehicle, its crew of four to six astronauts and small cargo payloads to the International Space Station. The rocket also is to be used for missions to explore the moon and beyond in the coming decades.

NASA said the preliminary design review is the first such milestone in more than 35 years for a U.S. rocket that will carry astronauts into space. The review, conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, examined the current design for the Ares I launch vehicle.

"This is a critical step for development of the Ares I rocket," said Rick Gilbrech, associate administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "Completing the preliminary design review of the integrated vehicle demonstrates our engineering design and development are on sound footing and the Ares I design work is taking us another step closer to building America's next mode of space transportation."