Nasa Orion Has Bull Eye Landing After Test Mission

NASA'S ORION HAS 'BULL'S EYE' LANDING AFTER TEST MISSION

USA TODAY
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An unmanned capsule NASA is designing to carry astronauts to an asteroid and eventually Mars splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Friday to conclude a successful first test flight.Stunning Photos of NASA's Orion: From Launch to SplashdownABC NewsHow did Orion withstand temperatures twice the melting point of steel?The VergeTrending on Google+:Orion splashes down after first, 2-orbit test flightCNNOpinion:NASA's Orion lands with 'bullseye' splashdownBoston HeraldIn Depth:NASA's Orion craft splashes down in Pacific, completes first test flightKansas City Star

NASA'S ORION HAS 'BULL'S EYE' LANDING AFTER TEST MISSION

James Dean, Florida Today 12:17 p.m. EST December 5, 2014 On the second attempt day, NASA successfully launched Orion from Cape Canaveral Friday morning. A future phase of the mission is to take astronauts first to an asteroid and eventually to Mars, possibly in the 2030s. VPC NASA's unmanned Orion spacecraft blasted off Friday. Its first launch attempt was scrubbed Thursday due to several factors, including wind. NASA hopes the spacecraft will eventually take astronauts to Mars. VPCRiding atop a 243-foot United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket firing three booster engines with a combined 2 million pounds of thrust - the most powerful rocket available today - Orion rumbled slowly from its pad into a low layer of clouds while onlookers at Kennedy Space Center cheered.

They included U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., one of the architects in Congress of NASA's human exploration program, who echoed NASA in calling the event "the dawn of a new era in spaceflight."

Not everyone is as optimistic about the program, which calls for another unmanned test flight in 2018, launched by a giant new NASA rocket, then a first mission with a crew no sooner than 2021.

USA TODAYNASA scrubs Orion launch after multiple delaysNASA has spent more than 9 billion over a decade on the Orion program, which was threatened with cancellation four years ago.

Without a habitation module or lander, Orion will be limited during its early missions to flights in the vicinity of the moon lasting up to three weeks.

NASA is studying a potential mission that would robotically grab an asteroid, or a piece of one, and drag it to an orbit near the moon where astronauts could reach it within a decade or so.

USATODAYWatch NASA's Orion launch from eight different anglesThe long-range goal is to send people to Mars by the 2030s, but that will require budget increases that are not anticipated in the near-term.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said before the launch that the test flight represented "history in the making," as the first flight beyond low Earth orbit in more than 40 years of a spacecraft intended to carry people.

"I don't want people to get focused on the destination," said Bolden. "This is a journey."

ImgurAfter another unmanned test flight in 2018, launched by NASA's new Space Launch System rocket, the first launch with a crew could happen by 2021.

A Delta IV rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Dec. 5. Aboard is NASA's Orion capsule. (Photo: Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY) end quote from:

NASA'S ORION HAS 'BULL'S EYE' LANDING AFTER TEST MISSION

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