Ares V-Y

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = Ares V-Y
insignia = Constellation logo white.svg
launch_vehicle = Ares V
launch_pad = Launch Pad 39A
launch = June, 2018
landing = June, 2018
duration = ~1-3 days
altitude = ~200-250 nautical miles (~320-400 km) in LEO
inclination = ~28.5 degrees in LEO
distance = TBD
crew_photo =
crew_caption =
previous = Maiden flight
next = Orion 12 and Altair 1

Ares V-Y is the current designation for the maiden flight of the heavy-lift Ares V Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle. The rocket launch will be conducted to test the first stage, which uses six RS-68 rocket engines currently in use on the Delta IV EELV rocket with two 5.5 segment Solid Rocket Boosters. The Ares V will have an active Earth Departure Stage, which has a single J-2X rocket engine, but will not carry the Altair spacecraft – a Constellation derivative of the Apollo Lander Mass Simulator (used on Apollos 4, 6, and 8) will be used instead. Ares V-Y will also see the first use of Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, as it is currently be slated for use in the final Space Shuttle missions while Launch Pad 39B will be reconfigured for use as the Ares I launch facility.

Ares V-Y is currently scheduled to take place in June, 2018, a little over 50 years since the unmanned Apollos 4 and 6 flights. It will most likely fly a so-called "Shuttle Standard Insertion" flight profile from launch into Low Earth Orbit, allowing NASA to test the SRBs, the five RS-68 engines, and the single, restartable, J-2X engine, the last engine being very important in that it would have to both insert the EDS and Altair into LEO, and then after an Orion spacecraft docks with Altair, propel the two vehicles out to the Moon. Once the initial launch sequence is done, NASA may then propel the EDS and its mass simulator into a permanent solar orbit or fire its J-2X engine and have the assembly crash into the Pacific Ocean in a manner similar to the de-orbiting of the Space Station Mir in 2001.

ee also

*List of Constellation missions