Florida lawmakers tweet new rocket’s maiden voyage

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

By Jordan Fabian

A duo of Florida lawmakers took to Twitter on Tuesday to praise the launch of the new Ares I-X rocket today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), who represents Cape Canaveral, and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) both tweeted after the new rocket’s successful launch at approximately 11:30 a.m. today:

Posey: go Ares I-X!!!! beautiful launch! congrats to the entire NASA team! #NASA

Nelson: Today’s picture-perfect launch of the new experimental Ares rocket shows America remains the leader in science and technology.

Nelson tweeted during the the launch’s scheduled time yesterday, which was scrubbed due to poor weather. As a member of the House, Nelson went into space on the shuttle Columbia.

But the Ares rocket is designed to phase out the vehicle in which Nelson once flew. The rocket is designed to propel into space a new four-to-six man capsule named Orion. The new vehicle will replace the shuttle program, which will be phased out in 2010.

Today’s launch was an unmanned test flight of the Ares. NASA itself tweeted after the launch:

Ares I-X has launched!!!
Separation of I-X upper stage!
Ships have spotted the Ares I-X booster and are steaming toward it.

As a senator, Nelson has taken a keen interest in NASA. This month he called on the Obama administration to redirect stimulus funds toward the space agency, which is experiencing serious budget shortfalls.

This article is reprinted from http://www.thehill.com