UM-Bot Posted November 5, 2014 #1 Share Posted November 5, 2014 NASA's successor to the space shuttles will be undertaking its first test flight in December. Developed by Lockheed Martin, the multi-purpose spacecraft is designed to enable missions beyond low Earth orbit. Read More: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/274465/nasas-orion-spacecraft-to-launch-next-month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvark-DK Posted November 5, 2014 #2 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Not "sexy" like the Shuttles, but guess, and hope, it will do the job... Edited November 5, 2014 by Aardvark-DK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperdyer Posted November 5, 2014 #3 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Other than the higher orbits, how is this an improvement over the current shuttles if we have to pluck the capsule out of the ocean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximusnow Posted November 5, 2014 #4 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) It is good to be alive! Edited November 5, 2014 by maximusnow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karasu Posted November 5, 2014 #5 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Hopefully the rockets won't blow up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karasu Posted November 5, 2014 #6 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Not "sexy" like the Shuttles, but guess, and hope, it will do the job... Oh yeah, those curves on the Atlantis just drove me wild. Edited November 5, 2014 by Karasu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallidin Posted November 5, 2014 #7 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Nice. All hopes that the engineering works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted November 5, 2014 #8 Share Posted November 5, 2014 So each time we go up we leave another bunch of trash behind? How exactly is this going to be "better" then the shuttle? Anyway, I'm glad the US is going forward in the Space Launch business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter B Posted November 5, 2014 #9 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Other than the higher orbits, how is this an improvement over the current shuttles if we have to pluck the capsule out of the ocean? Several factors: 1. Safety. The Orion has a launch escape rocket (LES). This means that if something goes wrong with the booster either on the launchpad or during the burning of the first stage, the LES can haul the Orion safely away from the problem below. In the case of the Shuttle, there were no escape options on the launchpad or while the Solid Rocket Boosters were firing. 2. Cost. Shuttle missions cost (according to Wikipedia) something in the region of $1.5 billion each (averaging the total cost of the program over all the launches). I don't have exact figures for Orion, but Delta IV rocket launches (again according to Wikipedia) cost less than $200 million each. Add on an amortised cost of the Orion, and I'm pretty sure each Orion launch would come out a fair bit cheaper than each Shuttle launch. 3. Safety again. The Orion spacecraft sits on top of the booster. That means that if something goes wrong with the booster, the spacecraft is above the problem. The sequence of events which led to the destruction of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles can't happen with the Orion spacecraft. 4. Mission flexibility. The Orion spacecraft has a single job - moving astronauts around. For that, you stick it on a rocket (in this case a Delta IV Heavy). If you want to do something in addition (like, say, landing on the Moon), you add the necessary components and stick everything onto a different rocket (like, say, the new SLS rocket NASA's developing). By contrast the Space Shuttle tried to be everything and ended up being not much good at anything. This is why the Shuttle ended up being very expensive - for all that it was touted as a re-usable spacecraft it required a lot of expensive and time-consuming reconditioning between flights. 5. Launch flexibility. As long as weather conditions are okay at the launch site, the Orion can be launched. By contrast the Space Shuttle had a number of abort modes during launch which involved landing at various sites in places like North Africa or Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. For the Space Shuttle to be able to be launched, weather conditions had to be okay at these abort landing sites as well. There were quite a few missions where launches were delayed because weather conditions were unsatisfactory at one or more of the abort landing sites, even though they were okay at the launch site. Launch delays like this were expensive and dangerous (because if the delay was long enough all the fuel on board had to be drained and the whole spacecraft systems reset). Having said all that, I'm not sure that continuing with the Orion is necessarily a good idea. Two private American companies have developed their own spacecraft intended to launch astronauts, and NASA is buying seats on them. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and its boosters are intended to be reusable. I'm not sure about Boeing's CST-100. I'm not sure what the American taxpayer gets out of having Orion in addition to Dragon and CST-100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted November 6, 2014 #10 Share Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) 2. Cost. Shuttle missions cost (according to Wikipedia) something in the region of $1.5 billion each (averaging the total cost of the program over all the launches). I don't have exact figures for Orion, but Delta IV rocket launches (again according to Wikipedia) cost less than $200 million each. Add on an amortised cost of the Orion, and I'm pretty sure each Orion launch would come out a fair bit cheaper than each Shuttle launch. There are two major things wrong with this statement. The first is the price you quote for a Delta IV launch. This is the price for the Delta IV Medium variant. The launch cost of the Delta IV Heavy, which will launch the Orion capsule on the EFT-1 mission is (according to wikipedia) $375 million. The second and major problem with your argument is that the cost of a Delta launch is almost entirely irrelevant. Except for this one test flight the Delta IV is not the launch vehicle for Orion. NASA is building the Space Launch System (SLS) for that. The SLS is planned to be the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed. Estimates for the cost per launch of that rocket are in the region of $500 million, but some experts believe that it will be far closer to $2 billion a launch when development costs and other running costs are factored in. Having said all that, I'm not sure that continuing with the Orion is necessarily a good idea. Two private American companies have developed their own spacecraft intended to launch astronauts, and NASA is buying seats on them. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and its boosters are intended to be reusable. I'm not sure about Boeing's CST-100. I'm not sure what the American taxpayer gets out of having Orion in addition to Dragon and CST-100. You don't seem to be aware of what Orion is actually for. It is a deep space exploration vehicle. That is a role that the CST-100 and the Dragon (at least in its current configuration) are not capable of. They are designed to be space taxis, ferrying astronauts to and from low Earth orbit. Orion is designed to eventually take astronauts to Mars. If NASA is to once again be the agency it once was then it needs to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit like it did during the Apollo era. It won't do that with the CST-100 and Dragon. Edited November 6, 2014 by Waspie_Dwarf typos. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skookum Posted November 6, 2014 #11 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Nice. All hopes that the engineering works well. They seem to have given themselves a very long time before they plan to put people in it. If all the test flights (no idea how many they will do) go to plan, they have given themselves 5 years before they plan to put a crew in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atuke Posted November 6, 2014 #12 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I'm glad no crew on board. I wouldn't even want to be a slug on the next few missions :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Supertypo Posted November 6, 2014 #13 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Several factors: Having said all that, I'm not sure that continuing with the Orion is necessarily a good idea. Two private American companies have developed their own spacecraft intended to launch astronauts, and NASA is buying seats on them. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and its boosters are intended to be reusable. I'm not sure about Boeing's CST-100. I'm not sure what the American taxpayer gets out of having Orion in addition to Dragon and CST-100. You forgot the most important....Orion is a deep space vehicle. Dragoon and CST is for low orbit. Orion should travel to meteorites, moon and other deep space targets. The private capsules you mention are for low orbit only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted November 6, 2014 #14 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I think it has rather a cool retro look, obviously derived from Apollo. A great chance to demonstrate that they haven't been left behind by these colourful private sector entrepreneurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FizzPuff Posted November 7, 2014 #15 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I had a bad run-in with an Orion in a video game, that name shall forever be the bane of my existence. All nonsense aside, looks cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted November 7, 2014 #16 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I had a bad run-in with an Orion in a video game, that name shall forever be the bane of my existence. All nonsense aside, looks cool It wasn't MechWarrior was it? I loved that game. Haven't played the current online version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted November 7, 2014 #17 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I think it has rather a cool retro look, obviously derived from Apollo. A great chance to demonstrate that they haven't been left behind by these colourful private sector entrepreneurs. That is what I thought also. I was expecting.... more... I guess. Perhaps it is an iphone where the Apollo was rotary dial? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted November 7, 2014 #18 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Here is a short article on some of teh differences between Apollo and Orion. http://www.space.com/5900-orion-apollo-nasa-21st-century-moonshot.html One big difference is Orion has nearly three times the interior volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archosaur Posted November 9, 2014 #19 Share Posted November 9, 2014 I'm glad they finally built this. Are the additional systems for the retrun to moon mission still going to be built with Orion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiteMarcher Posted November 12, 2014 #20 Share Posted November 12, 2014 (edited) Funny how the same corporations keep swallowing up all that DC monies...Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics--they'll come up with anything that steals money away from taxpayers...and our good ole boys up in DC just keeps on allowing it...the ole military "INdustREAL" complex.... Edited November 12, 2014 by NiteMarcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Commander Travis Posted November 12, 2014 #21 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Ah, so it's a conspiracy to further the militarisation of space, is that what you're saying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted November 12, 2014 #22 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I read that the Orion is being prepared for the launch pad and will be moving there soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted November 23, 2014 #23 Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) Current news on the Orion test mission: The crew vehicle has passed the key flight review, ahead of it's very first launch, planned for December 4th. No astronauts aboard this time, but its only a matter of time, and further tests. This is the first time since 1972 that a space vehicle capable of carrying astronauts has ventured beyond low Earth orbit. If all goes well, this test mission will reach an altitude of 3600 miles. More information, and some very good images of the rocket and crew vehicle. at the linked article, below: http://www.universet...-4/#more-116400 Edited November 23, 2014 by bison 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted December 3, 2014 #24 Share Posted December 3, 2014 The Orion crew capsule and supporting systems will be launched into orbit for the first time, tomorrow at 7:05 a.m, Eastern Standard Time (4:05 a.m. Pacific Time, 12:05 hours GMT), barring bad weather. I checked the forecast for South Florida for tomorrow morning. It appears that the weather will not be a problem at that time. A good article on this, linked below, also with background on what led up to the current project, and proposed manned missions for Orion, in the future. http://www.vox.com/2014/12/3/7322909/orion-test-flight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted December 3, 2014 #25 Share Posted December 3, 2014 All the live stream has at the moment (11:49 AM) is a Q&A session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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