I'm not sure what's got me so cynical today, but I read this and had the feeling we've been there once before:

With less than a year until flight tests of NASA's Constellation Program, work is under way on a launch pad that will host the first of those tests. Workers broke ground on a pad where the agency will test a launch abort system for the new Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, N.M.

Orion's launch abort system will carry astronauts to safety in the event of a problem on the launch pad or during the spacecraft's climb to orbit. The first of five tests of the system, known as Pad Abort 1 or PA-1, is scheduled for fall 2008. Data from the series will help engineers refine the design of the launch abort system.

In fact we have -- ten years ago, almost to the day, there was a similar groundbreaking at Edwards AFB.

It's also hard to believe that the X-33 LOx tank was delivered almost ten years ago.

Posted by T.L. James on November 16, 2007 10:03 PM | TrackBack