Orion Heat Shield Transported Aboard Super Guppy Plane
The heat shield for NASA's Orion spacecraft was loaded onto a Super Guppy
plane in Manchester, N.H. on Dec. 4, for transport to Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. The heat shield, the largest of its kind ever built, is being unloaded
Thursday, Dec. 5, and is scheduled for installation on Orion in March 2014.
The heat shield will be used in September 2014 during Exploration Flight
Test-1, a two-orbit flight that will take an uncrewed Orion capsule to an
altitude of 3,600 miles. The returning capsule is expected to encounter
temperatures of almost 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it travels through Earth's
atmosphere at up to 20,000 mph, faster than any spacecraft in the last 40
years.
Data gathered during the flight will influence decisions about design
improvements on the heat shield and other Orion systems, authenticate existing
computer models, and innovative new approaches to space systems and development.
It also will reduce overall mission risks and costs for future Orion missions,
which include exploring an asteroid and Mars.
Image Credit: NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmsail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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