Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Al. during the 1960’s and 1970’s was at the center of the Apollo program. Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team designed and developed the Saturn I and the Saturn V right here in Huntsville, Al. The first Apollo astronauts were propelled into orbit by the Saturn V and later to the moon. NASA  has 50 years of expertise and now the Constellation program is sizing new equipment  for future space exploration.

Marshall now has the responsibility of designing and developing a new generation of rockets and space vehicles to carry the next generation of beings to the moon, Mars and ……………………Needed was an engine that was reliable, robust and would perform.  Surprise!!!The J-2  engine that propelled the Saturn V fit the bill-even 40 years later. After testing and a little simplification and cutting edge technology we now have the  J-2X. 

The Ares family of vehicles is being designed to use common components to keep the costs down.  Since the middle of 2005, the Constellation Program has grown to around 3,700 workers; half of them are from the Tennessee Valley.

In the earliest days of the project a list of Team Norms was created. First thing on the list was “Have Fun!”  It’s a tough business and doesn’t allow for many failures. You can’t get the job done if people aren’t exited and having fun. They aren’t there to just build a rocket, they are there to explore. The driving mission is to make it as safe as possible for the crew and as affordable as possible so they can do more missions.

Isn’t it exciting, North Alabama? Congratulation, the first crewed lunar excursion is scheduled for 2020.