Constellation Program - Ares Boosters

Ares Boosters

Unlike the Saturn V and Space Shuttle, where the crew and cargo were launched together on the same rocket, NASA planned to use two separate launch vehicles for the Constellation Program – the Ares I for crew and the Ares V for cargo. This would have allowed the two launch vehicles to be optimized for their respective missions, especially for a much heavier cargo load per mission. The Constellation Program thus combined the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous method which was used by Apollo with the Earth Orbit Rendezvous method.