Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., More than 450 guests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida welcomed
the arrival of the agency's first space-bound Orion spacecraft Monday,
marking a major milestone in the construction of the vehicle that will
carry astronauts farther into space than ever before.
Image above: From left, U.S. Senator
Bill Nelson, NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana and NASA
Deputy Director Lori Garver discuss NASA's first space-bound Orion
capsule in Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building high bay following
an event marking the spacecraft's arrival in Florida. Photo credit:
NASA/Kim Shiflett
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Image above: The Orion crew module is
lowered onto a workstand in the Operations and Checkout Building high
bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Gianni
Woods
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NASA Unveils Orion During Ceremony:
The Orion
capsule that will make the first flight test into space was celebrated
Monday morning as the cornerstone of a new era of exploration for
America's space program.
The spacecraft's aluminum-alloy crew pressure module arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, June 29, where it will be built up into a fully functioning spacecraft ahead of a test flight slated for 2014.
"This starts a new, exciting chapter in this nation's great space exploration story," said Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator. "Today we are lifting our spirits to new heights."
Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space.
The 2014 uncrewed flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1, will be loaded with a wide variety of instruments to evaluate how the spacecraft behaves during launch, in space and the through the searing heat of reentry.
Later Orion spacecraft will take astronauts on missions to destinations far beyond Earth, such as to an asteroid and Mars.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to Mars," proclaimed U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who joined Garver and other officials to welcome the Orion spacecraft. "We know the Orion capsule is a critical part of the system that's going to take us there."
Designed with astronauts in mind, Orion will take crews beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since 1972, when Apollo 17 completed the last moon landing. The Space Launch System, or SLS -- a gigantic rocket akin to the Saturn V that launched the Apollo spacecraft -- is being developed to launch future Orion missions to deep space. The first launch of the SLS, with Orion atop, is scheduled for 2017.
Astronaut Rex Walheim, who flew on the final space shuttle mission and has had a leading role in the development of Orion, said the capsule can be the principal spacecraft for 30 years of human exploration of the solar system.
"It's the first in a line of vehicles that can take us where we've never gone before," Walheim said. "It'll be a building block approach, we'll have to have a lander and a habitation module, but we can get there."
Although the design is reminiscent of the landmark Apollo capsule that took men to the moon, the interior of the spacecraft if significantly more advanced. Its guidance, navigation and life support equipment have seen significant improvements in size and capabilities.
"The systems on this spacecraft, it's bigger than Apollo and it has to stay in space longer than Apollo, so it has to be better than Apollo," said Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy and a former shuttle commander.
For now, the focus for NASA and Lockheed Martin, the spacecraft's builder, is on preparing this capsule for space in 2014. During the EFT-1 mission, a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from United Launch Alliance will lift the spacecraft into orbit. Its second stage will remain attached to the capsule and will be fired to raise the Orion's orbit to 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station. The mission will last only a few hours, long enough to make two orbits before being sent plunging back into the atmosphere to test it at deep-space reentry speeds.
Assembly at Kennedy will take place in the high bay of the Operations and Checkout Building, or O&C. The O&C was refurbished extensively in 2006 and has been outfitted with large fixtures and tools to turn the aluminum shell of Orion into a functioning spacecraft complete with avionics, instrumentation and heat shield.
The space-bound Orion was welded at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, in the same factory that built the external tanks for space shuttle missions.
NASA's Ground Services Development and Operations Program, or GSDO, oversaw development of the mobile launcher that will provide a launch pad for the SLS and Orion missions. The program also refurbished Launch Pad 39B, designing a new pad structure emphasizing flexibility.
"A vehicle can come in any shape and any size and be able to launch from this pad," said Pepper Phillips, manager of the GSDO program.
The Orion program, based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, calls on multiple NASA centers to team up for the missions including EFT-1.
"Ultimately, we're going to fly as one big team," said Dave Beaman, Space Launch System spacecraft and payload integration manager based at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The fact that we're two separate programs, and having the GSDO program here at Kennedy, it gets some early coordination going and gives a chance to iron out some wrinkles."
Although EFT-1 will be launched aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket, it will use a stage adapter design that also will connect the Orion to the SLS.
"You want to make a part that can be designed for the Orion flight, as well as the SLS flights so you only have to design it once," Beaman said. "We'll get flight data on the performance, which really helps."
The spacecraft arrived at Kennedy nearly 50 years to the day that the center was born. Both occasions give NASA a great chance to set future milestones that will be as celebrated as those already achieved, Garver said.
"It's a great day and great way to celebrate 50 years of success and talk about 50 years in the future," Garver said.
Steven Siceloff, Kennedy Space Center
The spacecraft's aluminum-alloy crew pressure module arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, June 29, where it will be built up into a fully functioning spacecraft ahead of a test flight slated for 2014.
"This starts a new, exciting chapter in this nation's great space exploration story," said Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator. "Today we are lifting our spirits to new heights."
Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space.
The 2014 uncrewed flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1, will be loaded with a wide variety of instruments to evaluate how the spacecraft behaves during launch, in space and the through the searing heat of reentry.
Later Orion spacecraft will take astronauts on missions to destinations far beyond Earth, such as to an asteroid and Mars.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to Mars," proclaimed U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who joined Garver and other officials to welcome the Orion spacecraft. "We know the Orion capsule is a critical part of the system that's going to take us there."
Designed with astronauts in mind, Orion will take crews beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since 1972, when Apollo 17 completed the last moon landing. The Space Launch System, or SLS -- a gigantic rocket akin to the Saturn V that launched the Apollo spacecraft -- is being developed to launch future Orion missions to deep space. The first launch of the SLS, with Orion atop, is scheduled for 2017.
Astronaut Rex Walheim, who flew on the final space shuttle mission and has had a leading role in the development of Orion, said the capsule can be the principal spacecraft for 30 years of human exploration of the solar system.
"It's the first in a line of vehicles that can take us where we've never gone before," Walheim said. "It'll be a building block approach, we'll have to have a lander and a habitation module, but we can get there."
Although the design is reminiscent of the landmark Apollo capsule that took men to the moon, the interior of the spacecraft if significantly more advanced. Its guidance, navigation and life support equipment have seen significant improvements in size and capabilities.
"The systems on this spacecraft, it's bigger than Apollo and it has to stay in space longer than Apollo, so it has to be better than Apollo," said Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy and a former shuttle commander.
For now, the focus for NASA and Lockheed Martin, the spacecraft's builder, is on preparing this capsule for space in 2014. During the EFT-1 mission, a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from United Launch Alliance will lift the spacecraft into orbit. Its second stage will remain attached to the capsule and will be fired to raise the Orion's orbit to 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station. The mission will last only a few hours, long enough to make two orbits before being sent plunging back into the atmosphere to test it at deep-space reentry speeds.
Assembly at Kennedy will take place in the high bay of the Operations and Checkout Building, or O&C. The O&C was refurbished extensively in 2006 and has been outfitted with large fixtures and tools to turn the aluminum shell of Orion into a functioning spacecraft complete with avionics, instrumentation and heat shield.
The space-bound Orion was welded at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, in the same factory that built the external tanks for space shuttle missions.
NASA's Ground Services Development and Operations Program, or GSDO, oversaw development of the mobile launcher that will provide a launch pad for the SLS and Orion missions. The program also refurbished Launch Pad 39B, designing a new pad structure emphasizing flexibility.
"A vehicle can come in any shape and any size and be able to launch from this pad," said Pepper Phillips, manager of the GSDO program.
The Orion program, based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, calls on multiple NASA centers to team up for the missions including EFT-1.
"Ultimately, we're going to fly as one big team," said Dave Beaman, Space Launch System spacecraft and payload integration manager based at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The fact that we're two separate programs, and having the GSDO program here at Kennedy, it gets some early coordination going and gives a chance to iron out some wrinkles."
Although EFT-1 will be launched aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket, it will use a stage adapter design that also will connect the Orion to the SLS.
"You want to make a part that can be designed for the Orion flight, as well as the SLS flights so you only have to design it once," Beaman said. "We'll get flight data on the performance, which really helps."
The spacecraft arrived at Kennedy nearly 50 years to the day that the center was born. Both occasions give NASA a great chance to set future milestones that will be as celebrated as those already achieved, Garver said.
"It's a great day and great way to celebrate 50 years of success and talk about 50 years in the future," Garver said.
Steven Siceloff, Kennedy Space Center
NASA'S Orion Arrives At Kennedy, Work Underway For First Launch
CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. -- More than 450 guests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
in Florida welcomed the arrival of the agency's first space-bound Orion
spacecraft Monday, marking a major milestone in the construction of the
vehicle that will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before.
"Orion's arrival at Kennedy is an important step in meeting the president's goal to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "As NASA acquires services for delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station and other low-Earth destinations from private companies, NASA can concentrate its efforts on building America's next generation space exploration system to reach destinations for discovery in deep space. Delivery of the first space-bound Orion, coupled with recent successes in commercial spaceflight, is proof this national strategy is working."
Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space.
The space-bound Orion will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed mission planned for 2014. The spacecraft will travel 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface, 15 times farther than the International Space Station's orbital position. This is farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans t has gone in more than 40 years. The primary flight objective is to understand Orion's heat shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep space.
In advance of the 2014 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., a 400-person Orion production team at Kennedy will apply heat shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems to the spacecraft. Work also is underway by the Ground Systems Development and Operations team at Kennedy to modify and refurbish facilities used throughout the history of American spaceflight in preparation for the next generation of rockets and spacecraft. This includes the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center, launch pad, mobile launcher and crawler-transporter.
"Work is under way on America's next great spacecraft that will surpass the boundaries within which humanity has been held," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "In a facility that once processed cargo for space shuttles and various components for the International Space Station, hundreds of people at Kennedy are coupling advanced hardware assembly systems with a new human-rated spacecraft designed for deep space travel.. It is a fitting testament to the American work force at Kennedy that has enabled the exploration of space for 50 years is again working on hardware that will extend human presence throughout the solar system."
In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system.
Across the country, progress is being made on multiple components and capabilities for Orion and SLS. Orion has successfully completed numerous splashdown tests from a variety of angles and speeds, examining how the spacecraft will come to a rest on the ocean at the conclusion of deep space missions. NASA also has conducted a series of parachute tests high above the Arizona desert, demonstrating how Orion will behave under its giant parachute canopy. Software tests have been run between Mission Control Houston and an Orion mockup at Lockheed Martin's Exploration Development Laboratory, allowing flight controllers to learn how the spacecraft's onboard computers operate. Work also continues to build and fine-tune Orion's launch abort system. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion.
The J-2X upper-stage rocket engine, developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for the future two-stage SLS, is being tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The prime contractor for the five-segment solid rocket boosters, ATK, has begun processing its first SLS hardware components in preparation for an initial qualification test in 2013. The SLS core stage, which will be designed and manufactured by Boeing, has just passed a major technical review and is moving from concept to early design. Boeing has already delivered test bed flight computers to the program and flight software development is underway.
The Orion crew module was built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Orion Program. SLS is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is managed by Kennedy.
For more information about the Orion Program, visit:
For more information on the Space Launch System, visit:
For more information about the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy, visit:
"Orion's arrival at Kennedy is an important step in meeting the president's goal to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "As NASA acquires services for delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station and other low-Earth destinations from private companies, NASA can concentrate its efforts on building America's next generation space exploration system to reach destinations for discovery in deep space. Delivery of the first space-bound Orion, coupled with recent successes in commercial spaceflight, is proof this national strategy is working."
Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space.
The space-bound Orion will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed mission planned for 2014. The spacecraft will travel 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface, 15 times farther than the International Space Station's orbital position. This is farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans t has gone in more than 40 years. The primary flight objective is to understand Orion's heat shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep space.
In advance of the 2014 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., a 400-person Orion production team at Kennedy will apply heat shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems to the spacecraft. Work also is underway by the Ground Systems Development and Operations team at Kennedy to modify and refurbish facilities used throughout the history of American spaceflight in preparation for the next generation of rockets and spacecraft. This includes the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center, launch pad, mobile launcher and crawler-transporter.
"Work is under way on America's next great spacecraft that will surpass the boundaries within which humanity has been held," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "In a facility that once processed cargo for space shuttles and various components for the International Space Station, hundreds of people at Kennedy are coupling advanced hardware assembly systems with a new human-rated spacecraft designed for deep space travel.. It is a fitting testament to the American work force at Kennedy that has enabled the exploration of space for 50 years is again working on hardware that will extend human presence throughout the solar system."
In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system.
Across the country, progress is being made on multiple components and capabilities for Orion and SLS. Orion has successfully completed numerous splashdown tests from a variety of angles and speeds, examining how the spacecraft will come to a rest on the ocean at the conclusion of deep space missions. NASA also has conducted a series of parachute tests high above the Arizona desert, demonstrating how Orion will behave under its giant parachute canopy. Software tests have been run between Mission Control Houston and an Orion mockup at Lockheed Martin's Exploration Development Laboratory, allowing flight controllers to learn how the spacecraft's onboard computers operate. Work also continues to build and fine-tune Orion's launch abort system. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion.
The J-2X upper-stage rocket engine, developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for the future two-stage SLS, is being tested at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The prime contractor for the five-segment solid rocket boosters, ATK, has begun processing its first SLS hardware components in preparation for an initial qualification test in 2013. The SLS core stage, which will be designed and manufactured by Boeing, has just passed a major technical review and is moving from concept to early design. Boeing has already delivered test bed flight computers to the program and flight software development is underway.
The Orion crew module was built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Orion Program. SLS is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is managed by Kennedy.
For more information about the Orion Program, visit:
For more information on the Space Launch System, visit:
For more information about the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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