One Step Closer to Mars

George W. Bush’s dream of Americans on Mars got a little bit closer to reality Wednesday as NASA successfully launched its prototype Ares I-X rocket. A version of the new rocket is planned to launch Orion, NASA’s replacement craft for the aging space shuttle, as America’s preferred method of getting off-planet.

Back in 2004, in what might have been a desperate move, then-President Bush refocused NASA on manned space flight and a return trip to the moon on the way to Mars. Ares, another name for Mars as well as NASA’s spiffy new rocket, is also, coincidentally, the god of war.  —PZS

NASA: