NASA plans for giant space rocket

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; Kazinform cites Arab News.

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