“Engineers are concerned that the new rocket meant to replace the space shuttle and send astronauts on their way to the moon could shake violently during the first few minutes of flight, possibly destroying the entire vehicle.”
This is a result of using solid fuel boosters. Why are is NASA using them rather than safer, less expensive, and less polluting liquid fueled boosters? Those seemed to work fine in the Apollo project.
Fortunately, private enterprise may yet come to the rescue, in the form of the SPACEX Falcon 9 project and its kerosene fueled liquid engines.
Liquid fuel doen’t pack the punch of solid fuel, and it’s harder to store. High thrust-to-weight is especially important during liftoff. NASA has also designed them to be recoverable. The trade-off is not being sure what the damn things will do once the fuse is lit.