Old soldiers never die, they just fade away. What if you’re a defunct rocket sitting in some secret hangar of NASA? Well, the national space agency decided that there are still some miles left in their now defunct rocket, and will send engineers to work on it to refurbish the entire thingamajic to function as a proposed new commercial rocket – using parts from the Ares 1 crew launcher. This particular commercial rocket might eventually see action once again, transporting crews and supplies to the International Space Station.
Not only that, the rocket will also come with the core stage of Europe’s Ariane 5 booster. This agreement with Alliant Techsystems Inc and its European partner Astrium, an EADS company, will see all the relevant technical support services provided from NASA, and eventually, Alliant hopes to offer its Liberty rocket for sale to fly crews to the space station.
Said rocket will pocket more money if it is used for satellite launches and station cargo resupply missions, and I wonder whether they are hiring space conductors to collect travel fees from the crew as they shuttle back and forth in space.