Orion Deep Space Capsule Set for Historic NASA Launch in 2014 (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
NASA has announced that it will launch a test flight of the Orion deep space capsule in 2014, which could open the pathway to space exploration to asteroids or even Mars.
The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle was originally part of NASA’s Constellation Program, which is no longer an active NASA program. However, the design for Orion was carried forward as the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle as part of NASA’s new plans to explore beyond low Earth orbit and into deep space, according to its website.
The new deep space shuttle will be designed to further man’s exploration of the stars. It will be able to take man to the moon, an asteroid and perhaps even farther to Mars.
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According to NASA spokesperson Jay Byerly the Orion capsule is being produced by Lockheed Martin, a company with a long history in the development of space vehicles.
It will be propelled past earth’s atmosphere with either a delta 4 or Atlas 5 rocket. It is projected to reach a top altitude of 5,000 miles above the earth’s surface.
The projected flight path will take the unmanned capsule around earth twice. Then after the orbit it will slam back into the earth’s atmosphere at more than 20,000 mph.
Byerly stated that the fastest speed at which a manned spacecraft reentered earth’s atmosphere was the Apollo 10 mission. It reached a speed of 24,700 mph.
"The entry part of the test will produce data needed to develop a spacecraft capable of surviving speeds greater than 20,000 mph and safely return astronauts from beyond Earth orbit," Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier said. "This test is very important to the detailed design process in terms of the data we expect to receive."
NASA Associate Administrator for Communications David Weaver said, "President Obama and Congress have laid out an ambitious space exploration plan, and NASA is moving out quickly to implement it. This flight test will provide invaluable data to support the deep space exploration missions this nation is embarking upon."
