Big Day For Space

There's a lot going on right now, Discovery waved off two landings today, the Augustine Report Summary came our yesterday, and there was a (potentially) important rocket test, and a (definitely) important rocket launch in Japan today.

First, to Japan where the first launch of an H-IIB rocket took place. The launch was a great success, and sort of cavalier because the payload is the H-II Transfer vehicle (HTV). This will be third form of delivering cargo to the ISS once the Shuttle stops flying next year (?) after the Russian Progress Vehicle and the European ATV. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rendezvous and docking goes, which should be in the next few days.

The launch test was in Utah at the ATK test facility and consisted of a horizontal firing of the new 5-segment STS Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). It's always interesting to see a test of magnitude, but I have to admit that I don't really know what to make of this one. It proves that at least part of Ares 1 will work (the part that we all knew would work anyway - it remains to be seen if vibrations or drift will still be a problem). But on the other hand, Ares 1 might get cancelled in a few months, and really, the US human spaceflight program stands on the head of a pin right now, so it's hard to get excited about anything short of a successful Shuttle launch and landing.