The proposed Ares I rocket and its crew carrier called Orion are both at an advanced stage.

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However, since Ares I is capable only of reaching low Earth orbit and the space station is the only habitable thing in low Earth orbit, Ares I by itself would be a road to nowhere.

ECONOMIST: Science

Yet now that the Shuttle has been scuttled and a proposed Ares I Constellation rocket program has been canceled, other than hitching Russian taxi rides, our astronauts currently have no way to get there and back.

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In any case, now that the Space Shuttle has been scuttled and the proposed Ares I Constellation program rocket has been cancelled, NASA has little near-term choice but look to private ventures for Space Station access.

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It is up to Barack Obama to make a final decision based on the options presented by the panel, but none of the options considered viable includes the default path, the shuttle-derived Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft, to service the space station.

ECONOMIST: Science

Following completion of the current Ares V super-heavy-lift rocket program, the Space Launch System, I believe that the government should commercialize all future launch vehicle development and operations.

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