Boosters for Orion spacecraft's first flight test arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida

[TheOldSchool]

Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space, including an asteroid and Mars.
It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.
During the uncrewed EFT-1 flight, Orion will travel 3,600 miles into space—farther than a spacecraft built for humans has been in more than 40 years—and orbit the Earth twice.
The capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds approaching 20,000 mph, generating temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.


Read more at: Boosters for Orion spacecraft's first flight test arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida

Boosters for Orion spacecraft's first flight test arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida

Awesome. Another giant leap for mankind in the making

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space, including an asteroid and Mars.
It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.
During the uncrewed EFT-1 flight, Orion will travel 3,600 miles into space—farther than a spacecraft built for humans has been in more than 40 years—and orbit the Earth twice.
The capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds approaching 20,000 mph, generating temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.


Read more at: Boosters for Orion spacecraft's first flight test arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida

Boosters for Orion spacecraft's first flight test arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida

Awesome. Another giant leap for mankind in the making

President Obama cancelled the Orion project, why I've never been a fan. It get refunded?

"President Obama's 2011 budget request for NASA cut the agency's Constellation program completely, effectively canceling a five-year, $9 billion effort to build new Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets."
NASA grieves over canceled program - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News

 

[TheOldSchool]

It never stopped being funded. But it's mission was retooled a bit. It's still essentially the same vehicle and will be capable in the future of reaching the distances it was originally intended for. It'll be up to future congresses and administrations to decide what it's used for.

Obama's been pretty bad for NASA but he's gotten a little better as time's passed. It was my biggest criticism of him for a long time.

 

[TheOldSchool]

It's current missions include the test flight mentioned in the article which is to happen later this year, an uncrewed orbit of the moon, and sending a 2 man crew to rendezvous with an asteroid that is orbiting the moon. I don't know if the latter 2 missions are fully funded.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

...Ah. Reading around, things are not quite as headlines would make it appear.

Orion (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seems they got funding for a few headline grabbing tests, but going to Mars and an asteroid mmm not so much. Wiki's entry lists its' endurance as just 21 days. Shortest trip to Mars (at closest point to Earth) is about a year one-way. Plus there doesn't seem to be any provsion for radiation shielding on such a trip. NASA's solution to it so far is just ensuring total radiation is less than that for a lifetime.

Good info here about obstacles of manned trips to Mars like with radiation and social concerns:
Manned mission to Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I'm all for space exploration, but I have concerns about manned exploration. Extra costs involved sending people vs technology isn't worth it. Can do a lot more sending robots than people. Seems like the only reason to send a crew is it's sexier.

 

[TheOldSchool]

...Ah. Reading around, things are not quite as headlines would make it appear.

Orion (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seems they got funding for a few headline grabbing tests, but going to Mars and an asteroid mmm not so much. Wiki's entry lists its' endurance as just 21 days. Shortest trip to Mars (at closest point to Earth) is about a year one-way. Plus there doesn't seem to be any provsion for radiation shielding on such a trip. NASA's solution to it so far is just ensuring total radiation is less than that for a lifetime.

Good info here about obstacles of manned trips to Mars like with radiation and social concerns:
Manned mission to Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Orion is still in testing stages. There will be many improvements and versions of it in the future. Just because there are no planned missions anywhere as far as Mars right now doesn't mean that there won't be later. This vehicle has enormous potential.

And don't forget that the longest Shuttle mission was only 17 days.

 

[TheOldSchool]

I'm all for space exploration, but I have concerns about manned exploration. Extra costs involved sending people vs technology isn't worth it. Can do a lot more sending robots than people. Seems like the only reason to send a crew is it's sexier.

In my opinion man's greatest achievement was landing on the moon. And that'll be the case until we land on mars. The human race has always had ambitions to spread out and that has been the driving force behind our greatest inventions. For better or worse. I want us to hold on to that ambition.