The rocket project would cost $10 billion through 2017, when the
first test flight of the Space Launch System is scheduled to take place from
the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Another $6 billion is allotted to building
the Orion deep-space crew capsule, a holdover from the defunct Constellation
moon exploration initiative canceled by the Obama administration. NASA already
has spent $5 billion on Orion.
In addition, $2 billion would be spent to
refurbish NASA's Florida spaceport to accommodate the new rocket. The new
rocket is based on the space shuttle's liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
engines and fuel tanks, coupled initially with upgraded solid-fuel shuttle
booster rockets that also were developed under Constellation.
NASA plans a competition that could replace the Alliant
Techsystems In booster rockets with liquid-fuel rockets.
