[RightWhale]

It’s quite a ways from here to putting astronauts out there but the Orion flight tests begin this year.

Spacedaily.com

The 90-second flight will not leave Earth’s atmosphere, but it will be an important first step toward demonstrating how NASA intends to build safety into its next generation of spacecraft, including the Ares I and V rockets and the Orion crew capsule.

The first in a series of unmanned abort tests, known as Pad Abort-1 or PA-1, is scheduled for late 2008 at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

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Be great to see the new hardware.

[Yossarian]

Part of me is encouraged that NASA seems to be stressing crew safety as a primary goal of their new manned launch systems - but I am also distressed that it is all based on existing technology. There doesn't seem to be any new major activity going on advanced propulsion systems and/or SSTO platforms.

Anyone have any recent news on the latter?