327-foot (100-meter) Ares 1-X rocket, currently the world's tallest, blasted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) from a modified space shuttle launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Firing its motors for just over two minutes, the Ares 1-X rocket flew to an altitude of 28 miles (45 km) and reached a speed nearly five times the speed of sound.
Ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station 225 miles (360 km) above Earth, the booster is intended to be part of a system to fly astronauts to the moon and other destinations in the solar system.
Ares 1-X was outfitted with more than 700 sensors to monitor pressures, vibrations, temperatures and speeds as the rocket plowed through the atmosphere. The modified shuttle booster is wider at its forward part than at its base and had a simulated Orion capsule perched on its front end.
NASA would focus on developing a heavier-lift rocket needed to carry cargo and vehicles to the moon and other destinations beyond the station's orbit.
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