Three prior launch attempts were scrubbed because of thunderstorms moving into the area, and hydrogen gas leaks have caused two delays. Endeavour holds the final piece of Japan’s space lab, which should have flown last month.
When spokesman Allard Beutel at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center here on the Space Coast was asked the cost of just one Space Shuttle scrub, the answer approximately one million dollars. With NASA being cash strapped and facing budget problems, this is not what they need as of now.

Crossing our fingers and rolling the walkway away from the Endeavour’s hatch, there is one of the astronauts checking their ipod for the right music for the ride to space, mind freak!
Most people think the shuttle is ready to go on the pad any moment, but there is actually a protocol that must be followed that takes several hours to fill and then drain the external tanks when there is a scrub. Specialized liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel  is use and must be done properly to avoid accidents.
The shuttles are very complicated vehicles that must be constantly checked and evaluated, even while on the pad before launch. One of the covers had come loose, which could have allowed rain to penetrate the thruster nozzle. The rain would have frozen when the shuttle was in orbit and could have had an impact on maneuvers, such as docking Endeavour. You can see just by one simple oversight that doesn’t look like a problem…could become catastrophic in orbit and put the crew in danger or possibly lead to their demise.
The overall 4.5-million-dollar cost provided by information from NASA is “marginal” in Nasa’s overall operating budget, added Beutel. The agency says the space shuttle Endeavour alone, built to replace the shuttle Challenger, cost some 1.7 billion dollars.
Traffic on the space coast slows everything down launch day and it is becoming more of a problem with the remaining launches for the Space Shuttle program coming to an end soon. So be prepared to add additional time when traveling the day of the launch along the space coast.

Ares 1 Test Rocket getting ready

The engine testing has been completed for the Ares 1 Test Rocket and is successful. The exciting part will be to watch each of the test flights from Kennedy Space Center here on the Space Coast as they put the Ares 1 Test Rocket through each phase.  The flight of the Ares 1 Test Rocket will be an important step toward verifying analysis  needed to further develop Ares I, NASA’s next launch vehicle.

In order to ensure that the Ares 1 Test Rocket flight characteristics are fully understood, extreme care is being taken to precisely fabricate the rocket’s simulated upper stage and the simulated Orion crew module and associated launch abort tower. These full-scale hardware components must accurately reflect the shape and physical properties of the Ares 1 Test Rocket used in computer analyses and wind tunnel tests in order to confidently compare flight results with preflight predictions.

Ares 1 Test Rocket engines being fired

“This launch will tell us what we got right and what we got wrong in the design and analysis phase,” said Jonathan Cruz, deputy project manager for Ares I-X CM/LAS. “We have a lot of confidence, but we need those two minutes of flight data before NASA can continue to the next phase of rocket development,” he said.

Ares 1 test rocket on pad artist conception

The completed two-part flight test article is to be delivered to Kennedy by the end of this year. Before launch, the combined crew module and launch abort system tower will be used to help demonstrate lifting, handling and stacking of Ares I-X flight test vehicle elements.

Click on the Ares 1 Test Rocket thumbnail above!

Ares 1 Test Rocket will provide important data for developing Ares I in time to support the vehicle’s critical design review in 2010.

Now get ready to view the simulated launch of the Ares 1 Test Rocket from Kennedy Space Center, turn up your speaker system and have your woofer on full. This will not be much further in the future to witness it in person, enjoy the video below!