NASA would be the first one to tell you that it takes a ton of help to get their rockets out the door and up into space, and so it goes with the Ares I rocket. Described as America's next flagship in space, the Ares I is now in development by NASA and its industry partners, to carry human explorers and new missions of discovery to the moon and beyond. To that end, Alabama workers are helping make it happen as well as more than 200 companies in 32 states and Puerto Rico, including 27 Alabama firms supporting major Ares I projects.

The Boeing Co. of Huntsville, Alabama leads NASA's Ares I Upper Stage Project, which is supported in Alabama by United Launch Alliance of Trinity, Ala., and six Huntsville-based firms: Global Majic Software Inc.; Millennium Engineering & Integration Co.; Moseley Technical Services; Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.; Orion Propulsion; and Summa Technology Inc.

Then there are those supporting NASA's Ares I Upper Stage Engine Project which are Analytix LLC; Dynamic Concepts Inc.; GE Fanuc Embedded Systems; General Standards Corp.; Miltec Corp.; Mock Electronics Inc.; and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dynamic Concepts Inc. and 12 other Huntsville companies also support Ares I vehicle integration activities at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, which manages Ares Projects for NASA. Those contractors include: BD Systems Inc.; Colsa Corp.; Digital Fusion; Draper Laboratories; Gray Research Inc.; Integrated Concepts & Research Corp.; Jack Lee & Associates; Jacobs Sverdrup; Qualis Corp.; Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc.; Total Solutions Inc.; and UNITeS/SAIC.

From reading all of the above companies' names, the work of these Alabama-based Ares I contracts have a combined value of more than $74.5 million. "Like these Alabama companies, contributors across the nation are providing critical engineering expertise, hardware and materials fabrication and testing and a wide spectrum of support services," said Steve Cook, Ares Projects manager at the Marshall Center. "Their work ensures that NASA will, in the next decade, successfully fly the Ares I rocket to orbit to support the International Space Station and send Americans back to the moon, preparing the way for rewarding new journeys of discovery throughout the solar system."

The first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, is scheduled for 2009. The first crewed launch of the Ares I rocket is planned for no later than 2015, and NASA plans to send the first missions back to the moon around 2020. The 165-foot-long Ares I first stage, the backbone of the integrated launch vehicle system, is a five-segment solid rocket booster derived from the space shuttle's twin boosters, enhanced and reconfigured to produce greater thrust. Burning more than 1.3 million pounds of propellant in just 125.8 seconds, the first stage will propel the rocket to an altitude of roughly 36 miles before being jettisoned. As the Ares I upper stage engine ignites, the first stage will deploy parachutes and gently drop into the sea for recovery, analysis and reuse.

The 84-foot-long Ares I upper stage is propelled by a J-2X main engine fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The J-2X is an evolved variation of two historic predecessors: the powerful J-2 engine that propelled the Apollo-era Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets, and the J-2S, a simplified version of the J-2 developed and tested in the early 1970s but never flown. The J-2X will operate for approximately 465 seconds, burning more than 302,200 pounds of propellant, and shut down when Ares I reaches an altitude of roughly 83 miles. The Orion crew exploration vehicle then will separate from the upper stage, and its own engine will fire to insert the spacecraft into low Earth orbit. The upper stage will reenter Earth's atmosphere and splash down in the Indian Ocean.

NASA's Constellation Program fleet, that is now more than four years into development, includes the Ares I, the Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle and the Orion spacecraft. The Ares V will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of large-scale hardware to space, including the Altair lunar lander, also now in development, and supplies needed to establish a sustained human presence on the moon. The Orion will safely ferry a crew of four to six astronauts to a variety of destinations in space.

Three prime contractors lead NASA's Ares I effort for industry. Ares I First Stage Project, valued at approximately $1.8 billion, to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Minneapolis in August 2007. The Boeing Co. valued at approximately $2 billion of which $1.2 billion is for the Upper Stage production contract, awarded in September 2007, and $800 million for the Ares I Upper Stage Avionics Unit, awarded in December 2007. The contract for the Ares I Upper Stage Engine Project, valued at approximately $1.2 billion, was awarded to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc., of Canoga Park, Calif., in June 2006.