Post by warrior1972 on Dec 4, 2014 2:36:25 GMT -8
CNN) -- It's the biggest countdown for NASA since the shuttle era ended in 2011. The space agency's new Orion spacecraft is scheduled to lift off on an uncrewed test flight at 7:05 a.m. ET Thursday from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
"We haven't had this feeling in awhile, since the end of the shuttle program," Mike Sarafin, Orion flight director at Johnson Space Center, said in a preflight briefing on Wednesday. He said it's the beginning of something new: exploring deep space.
Orion looks like a throwback to the Apollo era, but it is roomier and designed to go far beyond the moon: to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.
"It is, I think, consistent with those -- the beginning of shuttle and beginning of Apollo," said Mark Geyer, NASA Orion program manager. "I think it's in the same category."
NASA's newest spaceship, Orion, sits on top of a Delta IV Heavy rocket on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 3, waiting for its first test flight. Orion is designed to take humans to an asteroid and on to Mars, but its first flight will not carry a crew.
NASA's first completed Orion crew module sits atop its service module at Kennedy Space Center before being wrapped in protective panels and stacked on a Delta IV Heavy rocket for its first test flight.
Workers finish wrapping Orion in protective panels for its first flight. The panels protect the crew module from sound and vibration during launch.
Workers check Orion after its last major assembly operations are completed -- the installation of protective panels around the spacecraft just below the Launch Abort System tower.
Orion is wheeled past the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on November 11, 2014, on its way to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Orion is mated with a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, the rocket that will carry it into space on its first test flight.
Orion sits on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral after being stacked on the rocket. Orion will take crews farther from Earth than any spacecraft since Apollo.
Orion will be the first U.S. spacecraft since the Apollo-era to splash down in the ocean. In this photo, crew members on the USNS Salvor pull a test version of the spacecraft out of the ocean using a crane.
When it becomes fully operational, Orion's crew module will be able to carry four people on a 21-day mission into deep space or six astronauts for shorter missions. By comparison, the Apollo crew modules held three astronauts and were in space for six to 12 days. Orion's crew module is 16.5 feet in diameter and Apollo was 12.8 feet in diameter, NASA said.
Orion is expected to take up its first crew in 2021.
www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/tech/innovation/nasa-orion-launch/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
"We haven't had this feeling in awhile, since the end of the shuttle program," Mike Sarafin, Orion flight director at Johnson Space Center, said in a preflight briefing on Wednesday. He said it's the beginning of something new: exploring deep space.
Orion looks like a throwback to the Apollo era, but it is roomier and designed to go far beyond the moon: to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.
"It is, I think, consistent with those -- the beginning of shuttle and beginning of Apollo," said Mark Geyer, NASA Orion program manager. "I think it's in the same category."
NASA's newest spaceship, Orion, sits on top of a Delta IV Heavy rocket on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 3, waiting for its first test flight. Orion is designed to take humans to an asteroid and on to Mars, but its first flight will not carry a crew.
NASA's first completed Orion crew module sits atop its service module at Kennedy Space Center before being wrapped in protective panels and stacked on a Delta IV Heavy rocket for its first test flight.
Workers finish wrapping Orion in protective panels for its first flight. The panels protect the crew module from sound and vibration during launch.
Workers check Orion after its last major assembly operations are completed -- the installation of protective panels around the spacecraft just below the Launch Abort System tower.
Orion is wheeled past the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on November 11, 2014, on its way to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Orion is mated with a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, the rocket that will carry it into space on its first test flight.
Orion sits on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral after being stacked on the rocket. Orion will take crews farther from Earth than any spacecraft since Apollo.
Orion will be the first U.S. spacecraft since the Apollo-era to splash down in the ocean. In this photo, crew members on the USNS Salvor pull a test version of the spacecraft out of the ocean using a crane.
When it becomes fully operational, Orion's crew module will be able to carry four people on a 21-day mission into deep space or six astronauts for shorter missions. By comparison, the Apollo crew modules held three astronauts and were in space for six to 12 days. Orion's crew module is 16.5 feet in diameter and Apollo was 12.8 feet in diameter, NASA said.
Orion is expected to take up its first crew in 2021.
www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/tech/innovation/nasa-orion-launch/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
