The Orion spacecraft was launched today from the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral. Photo gallery from NASA TV and the agency's Twitter account.
following theThe successful launch and landing of the Orion spacecraft on the first test flight The science site brings a diagram explaining how the Orion spacecraft is launched and landed, as well as screenshots from the continuous NASA television broadcast that lasted for about seven hours.
The Orion spaceship is reminiscent of the Apollo spaceships in which the astronauts flew to the moon and back, and indeed some call it "Apollo on steroids". To launch it into a high orbit it was necessary to use the tricks that are used to launch unmanned spacecraft to other planets or the moon - the lap in an elliptical orbit and pushing the engines when they reach the height peak. In this case, a four and a half minute run of the second stage.
Later, the spacecraft will rise to an altitude of 5,800 km and land in the Pacific Ocean near the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico, where a rescue boat is waiting for it.
It was one of the successful operations. Almost everything went by the book except that only two airbags out of the five designed to keep the spacecraft stable at sea, everything went smoothly. Even this malfunction did not prevent the spacecraft from remaining stable.
More details about Orion, an article published before the launch: USA returns to space - first test flight for the "Orion" spacecraft
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