From Mere Plans to Mammoth Production

As the Space Shuttle winds down its service to NASA in 2010, many wonder where mankind will go from here. The answer is in the highly publicized Constellation program and its Orion and Ares projects. Orion will replace the space shuttle and the Ares V launch vehicle is set to replace the previous Crew Launch Vehicle for future excursions to the Moon and later Mars. On December 17, 2007, NASA made the major step from plans to implementation and began testing the engines built to power the Ares launch vehicle ( http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/dec/HQ_07281 ). This future generation of NASA exploration vessels will surely open new doors for our understanding of not only Mars, and the Moon, but our planet Earth itself. For more information on the Constellation ProgramAres and Orion visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main .