Launching their large space station will require a new heavy lift vehicle, the Long March 5, which is still in development and behind schedule.

CNN: Will China overtake America in space?

Constellation would have developed a heavy lift launch vehicle, crew capsule, and other technology needed to return astronauts to the Moon, and then eventually carry them on to Mars.

FORBES: Saving NASA From The Obama Science Fair

It will probably direct that development of a new heavy lift launch vehicle begin much sooner based on technology already in hand, and that the crew capsule being developed for the canceled Constellation program be retained for other purposes.

FORBES: Saving NASA From The Obama Science Fair

Robert Walker and Charles Miller's "Commercial Space Exploration Needs an Obama Relaunch" (op-ed, Jan. 28) calling for President Obama to cancel NASA's program to build a government-designed heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Space Launch System, omits a number of facts.

WSJ: NASA's SLS Is a Key to Deep Space �� Letters to the Editor

"This new heavy-lift launch vehicle will make it possible for explorers to reach beyond our current limits, to nearby asteroids, Mars and its moons, and to destinations even farther across our solar system, " William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.

MSN: Giant deep-space rocket passes key test - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News

For instance, the plan calls for spending several years researching a new heavy lift launch vehicle for deep space exploration before committing to a design a stretched-out schedule that would likely produce little new technology but deprive engineering teams and production workers of anything to do for the better part of a decade.

FORBES: Saving NASA From The Obama Science Fair

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.

FORBES: Rescuing NASA From Terminal Public Apathy