Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACE TRAVEL
NASA counts down key Orion test flight
by Kerry Sheridan
Kennedy Space Center FL (AFP) Dec 04, 2014


illustration only

The Orion spacecraft, designed to carry humans farther in deep space than ever before, is poised to blast off Thursday in what NASA hailed as a first step in mankind's journey to Mars.

No astronauts will be on board the capsule when it launches aboard the United States' largest rocket, the Delta IV Heavy made by United Launch Alliance, but engineers will be keenly watching to see how it performs during the four-and-a-half hour flight.

The launch marks the first of a US spacecraft meant to carry people into deep space since the Apollo missions that brought men to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

With no American vehicle to send humans to space since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, some at NASA said the Orion launch has re-energized the US space program, long constrained by government belt-tightening and forced to rely on costly rides aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit.

"We haven't had this feeling in awhile, since the end of the shuttle program, (of) launching an American spacecraft from America's soil and beginning something new," said Mike Sarafin, lead flight director at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Tourists and space enthusiasts lined the area known as Florida's Space Coast to see the powerful rocket blast off at sunrise, and 27,000 guests were at Kennedy Space Center for a close up look at the rocket, NASA spokesman Mike Curie said.

Potential future missions for Orion, which is designed to fit four people at a time, include a trip to lasso an asteroid and a journey to Mars by the 2030s.

"Thursday is the beginning of that journey, testing key systems -- the riskiest systems I would say for Orion -- before we have any people on board," said Mark Geyer, program manager for Orion.

- Launch from Cape Canaveral -
The launch at 7:05 am (1205 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aims to propel 1.63 million pounds (739,000 kilograms) of spacecraft, rocket and fuel straight to space, where the capsule will make two laps around the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

The first orbit will be about as high as the International Space Station, which circles at an altitude of about 270 miles (430 kilometers), but the second will soar 15 times higher, to an apogee of 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) above the Earth.

The chief contractor of the Orion capsule is Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft was first designed to take humans to the Moon as part of NASA's Constellation program, which was cancelled by President Barack Obama in 2010, in favor or seeking new destinations in deep space.

The goal is both nebulous and costly, and NASA has already spent 9.1 billion dollars on Orion and the powerful rocket meant to propel it with crew on board, the Space Launch System (SLS).

Another unmanned test flight is slated for 2018. The first Orion test flight with people on board is scheduled for 2021, but with costs projected to reach $19-22 billion, space analyst Marco Caceres of the Teal Group in Virginia said it could be longer.

"Assuming Congress or one of the next two presidents do not cancel SLS because of its inevitably ballooning costs, it's more likely that the first SLS/Orion manned mission will occur closer to the middle part of the next decade," Caceres said.

- Safety first -
As NASA looks beyond the Moon, safety for human explorers is another key problem that has yet to be solved.

"Radiation is one of the biggest challenges for us," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told an audience of NASA enthusiasts gathered at Kennedy Space Center for a social media event.

The primary objective of Thursday's test, according to Geyer, is to see how the heat shield performs as it reaches temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 Celsius) on its high-speed plunge back to Earth at a velocity of 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) per hour.

"A part of me hopes that everything is perfect. We land, have high-fives and everybody has a great time," Geyer told reporters.

But he added that the test is designed to find things that go wrong before precious lives are at risk.

"We want to discover things that are beyond our modeling capability and beyond our expertise so we can learn it and fix it before we put people on board."

Weather for Thursday's launch was expected to be 70 percent favorable, with some risk of winds and rain, but NASA said the two hour, 39-minute launch window gives the team plenty of flexibility to accomplish the launch during the daylight hours.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Orion at NASA
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





SPACE TRAVEL
Boeing Completes First Milestone for CCT
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 02, 2014
NASA has approved the completion of Boeing's first milestone in the company's path toward launching crews to the International Space Station from the United States under a groundbreaking Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The Certification Baseline Review is the first of many more milestones, including flight tests from Florida's Space Coast that will establish th ... read more


SPACE TRAVEL
Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover "Andy"

Why we should mine the moon

Young Volcanoes on the Moon

Russia Preparing Joint Moon Exploration Agreement With EU

SPACE TRAVEL
NASA's Orion Flight Test and the Journey to Mars

Orion Test Flight a Critical Step on NASA's Journey to Mars

Meteorite From Mars Contains Alien Biomass

Traces of possible Martian biological activity inside a meteorite

SPACE TRAVEL
ISS astronauts will have to wait until April for espresso

NASA video shows off Orion cockpit

NASA Aeronautics contributes to Orion's atmospheric capability

New Display Counts Down for New Generation

SPACE TRAVEL
Service module of China's returned lunar orbiter reaches L2 point

China Launches Second Disaster Relief Satellite

China expects to introduce space law around 2020

China launches new remote sensing satellite

SPACE TRAVEL
NASA's CATS Eyes Clouds, Smoke and Dust from the Space Station

3-D Printer Creates First Object in Space on ISS

Soyuz docks at Space Station; Expedition 42 joins crew

Italy's first female astronaut heads to ISS in Russian craft

SPACE TRAVEL
Japan launches rocket carrying asteroid probe

Go-ahead given for Ariane 5 dual-payload mission

After wrangle, Europe set to approve Ariane 6 launcher

Soyuz Installed at Baikonur, Expected to Launch Wednesday

SPACE TRAVEL
'Mirage Earth' exoplanets may have burned away chances for life

Stardust Not Likely to Block Planet Portraits

Ground-based detection of exoplanets

Ground-Based Detection Paves Way to Remote Sensing of Small Exoplanets

SPACE TRAVEL
Space travel is a bit safer than expected

Street cleaners in New York have help from insect garbage-munchers

Laser link offers high-speed delivery

Researchers develop building material that cools by reflecting heat into space




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.