The first test of the Ares I rocket’s three main parachutes was completed Wednesday at the Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz. The largest rocket parachutes ever manufactured – 150 feet in diameter and weighing 2,000 pounds each – they slow the descent of the rocket's spent first-stage motor, permitting recovery for use on future flights. Ares I, the first rocket in NASA's Constellation Program, is designed to launch explorers aboard the Orion crew capsule on journeys to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond. (Source: NASA, 05/20/09) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are involved in the Constellation program.
