A vitally important part of NASA’s upcoming Constellation Program – the advance spacecraft that, it is intended, will replace the original Space Shuttle program – is the Ares I rocket. Originally intended to be launched in 2013, NASA staff last month announced a two year postponement, meaning Ares and the Constellation Program will eventually open its wings for flight in 2015. Ares I will carry the Orion shuttle into orbit.Despite what sounds like pretty terrible news for anyone who wants to get the project off the ground – the US Tax Payer, for one – there is a silver lining in this particular cloud: the Ares rocket has recently passed its preliminary design review. NASA – along with a team of no less that 1,000 specialists – have poured over the initial designs and, on the whole, they’re looking good.This initial success doesn’t mean that the rocket is good to blast off, though: this is the first in what will be a long line of meticulously executed reviews. When you’re talking billions of dollars and many human lives it just doesn’t pay to be sloppy: this is a lesson that NASA learned after the Challenger disaster where timely execution was favored over safety and further testing.