NASA switches plan for rocket

Posted on: May. 29th, 2006 || Source: floridatoday.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

CAPE CANAVERAL - Sounding a death knell for an American space workhorse, NASA officials say they no longer intend to use shuttle main engines to power a new monster moon rocket that will rival the Apollo-Saturn 5 in size.

Instead, clusters of five modified Delta 4 rocket engines will propel the behemoth boosters, which will be used to catapult massive cargo needed to stage human expeditions back to the moon and ultimately on to Mars.

Senior NASA officials say the decision was matter of dollars and sense.

"In the long run, the (Delta 4 engine) will be much less expensive to own and operate," said Dan Dumbacher, deputy director of the exploration launch office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

"Right away, we will be saving $100 million a flight just on the cost of engines."

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