Visual Science: NASA Unveils Its New Rocket

This morning, a towering rocket was slowly wheeled into place on a launch pad in Florida, in preparation for its debut test flight next week. The 327-foot-tall rocket is an experimental prototype of the Ares I, the rocket that may blast astronauts into space once the space shuttles are finally retired. This prototype, Ares I-X, is the tallest rocket to grace the launch pad since Saturn V stood there in the early 1970s, a rocket which catapulted the Apollo astronauts into space.