"There are rumblings of discord in the NASA family over the agency’s troubled Ares I moon rocket. According to well-placed sources inside NASA, the astronaut office is deeply unhappy with the design of Ares as it emerges from an important review that is in the process of being finished up now.

The concern is so great, the sources say, that there is some talk at the highest levels of NASA about the possibility of ditching the Ares, with its unconventional stick-like solid rocket booster first stage, in favor of a more conventional rocket design – one that sounds like the shuttle launch system without the shuttle.

In the face of the latest reports of trouble, sources say that NASA leaders are looking at a possible replacement design, including one that would use the shuttle’s two four-segment solid rocket boosters, and a liquid engine with four RS-68 engines and no upper stage. While it sounds similar to a rocket called the Jupiter 120 or the Direct 2.0 concept which is being proposed by moonlighting NASA engineers, the sources insist it is not the same.

“[It’s] … still being debated; looks like they want to minimize the embarrassment for certain NASA executives,” said one source.

Maybe NASA needs to do the "artist formerly known as Prince" thing and label the Jupiter 120 Direct concept Ares 1a.

You heard it here, "The Stick" will never fly humans anywhere. Just like the X-33 boondoggle. Hopefully, under astronaut and engineer pressure NASA will wise up and change their approach without the next president having to appoint a new NASA administrator to 'fix ARES' at a cost of billions, and worse yet, several years.