so I am not a rocket scientist; this being said I am going to speak my mind anyhow. I think the Ares program is a step backward. The Space Shuttle program is where we are now; a reuseable space craft to carry astronauts and cargo into a low earth orbit. From this point it seems the next step would be to build the transport vehicle in space, use the space shuttle to load the vehicle with cargo and crew and then go to worlds beyond our own. Seems the 'blast off' is where all the energy is spent to get the darn thing into space. Ares brings back the launch gantry, one time use vehicle and more space junk. I don't think I am alone in this idea, Arthur Clarke , Gene Roddenbury to name a couple. The starship Enterprise didn't need to 'blast off' the Discovery was also constructed in orbit. We have the ISS, there was Skylab and Myr (or however you spell that one) Unless they are working on something and not letting us know just seems like a step back to the 70's and the Saturn V rocket style.