October 27, 2009 NASA's new rocket ready for test flight Play video

(NECN/ABC/NASA) - NASA's new rocket for its back-to-the-moon program is on the launch pad, all set for a test flight Tuesday morning.

But rain and clouds could interfere.

It has been 30 years since NASA launched a new spacecraft and engineers can hardly wait to see how this one performs during its two and a half minute flight.

The last time NASA tested a spacecraft was STS 1 - the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia in 1981 - the space shuttle is still flying, but due to be retired after six more missions.

Ares will launch due east off the Florida coast, reaching an altitude of 150,000 feet at a speed of Mach 4 before plunging into the Atlantic Ocean.

The two minute flight is a critical test for the spaceship NASA hopes will one day take astronauts to the space station, then on the Moon, and perhaps Mars.

ABC News reporter Gina Sunseri is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the latest.