Orion will be attached to the second stage of the launcher up to an altitude of 5,760 kilometers, 15 times the altitude at which the International Space Station orbits the Earth, and farther than any manned spacecraft in the last 40 years. It will circle the Earth twice and land
With three days left until launch, all that remains is the launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft on December 4, 2014, which is the first step on the long road to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s. Orion is the next generation of spacecraft designed to transport humans, and it is expected to fly American astronauts beyond Earth orbit into deep space, beyond the moon to asteroids, Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
Orion will be launched on a heavy Delta 4 rocket. A United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy rocket followed by launch 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base. This time the flight will be unmanned and will be called EFT-1.
Technicians and engineers installed Orion's batteries and conducted tests of all electrical connections between the crew module, the service module and the second stage of the launcher while working inside the mobile service tower in Ben 37.
The service tower will be moved away from the launch site on Wednesday evening, about eight hours before the launch, to allow the rocket to be fueled and continue with the final stages of the launch activities and the countdown to the launch on Thursday morning.
Orion's launch window will open at 07:05 EST (14:05 Israel time) and will last 39 hours and 1972 minutes. The mission itself will last less than five hours, during which the spacecraft will be tested in space, and its landing system - the heat shield and the parachute systems - will be tested. This is the first spacecraft developed by NASA to fly humans to space missions since the beginning of the development of the space shuttle, in XNUMX. The spacecraft is being built by Lockheed Martin.
The spacecraft will circle the Earth twice. Orion will be attached to the second stage of the launcher up to an altitude of 5,760 kilometers, 15 times the altitude at which the International Space Station orbits the Earth, and farther than any manned spacecraft in the last 40 years. After that the safe return and landing systems will be tested. Earlier, during the launch, an extraction system for astronauts will be tried for the first time.
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Now I saw... it's a shame that this news doesn't appear at the top of the page.
There is a live broadcast of the launch:
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4599646,00.html
Apparently it seems that the maximum distance of this will be more or less for the moon,
It is not possible to hold people in such a capsule for months of a journey to Mars,
It seems to be more suitable for a few days maybe a few weeks but not months,
This is suitable for reaching a larger spacecraft and for returning to the Earth's atmosphere,
The problem it comes to solve is the enormous weight that a vehicle like the space shuttle creates and is the enormous amount of fuel
that was needed to lift it into space and the tremendous complexity of all the assemblies, in one word, money,
The initial concept of the space shuttle was
If, like an airplane, they saved the need to replace the spaceship every time, it would reduce costs in practice, this did not happen,
Another thing that the new space vehicle will provide is the ability to escape in the event that the main rocket fails at takeoff,
So it's definitely a return to the Apollo days and the abandonment of the shuttle idea,
It is not clear why they keep talking that he will fly to Mars, it does not seem possible only if he connects
For a large supply of everything needed for such a long journey, the International Space Station every few months
Supplies from Earth here will not be feasible, everything should be sent together with the people at least for the journey to Mars
Perhaps on Mars another supply sent earlier could be waiting,
So between the enthusiastic statements and the reality I feel that there is quite a large distance
It's not a vehicle to Mars like in the old ships a boat that takes people from the shore to the ship
that cannot anchor near the coast or to an island as close as the moon.
Another thing that is constantly being ignored is the problem of the lack of traction and what it will do to people during the 7 months of the journey
No one is waiting for you with a blanket armchair and Russian bread on the steppes of Mars so that you have time to recover
When you also return to the level of partial attraction that is there, it seems that the first step of the astronaut is on Mars
will fall face down into the sand after serious atrophy of the body, we see what condition the astronauts/cosmonauts are in
They seem to return to Earth after less time, some almost on the verge of fainting,
There are solutions for this, but all these cannot be in a small capsule like NASA's new space vehicle,
These are something much larger, which of course requires much more fuel and more money,
Because every additional kg of a station needs fuel both for takeoff from Earth and for acceleration to Mars and for deceleration there
And of course the same in the opposite direction,
For example, the transition of transportation to hydrogen. (Japan is a leader in the field) Car companies from Germany and Korea are also investigating the issue.
Anonymous (unidentified) user
Both are possible. Believe me it can be done if you just want to. 3 million people worked around the Apollo program. Just think how many jobs will be created. Don't forget that every development for space exploration also finds a daily use. This is the added value of programs of this magnitude. An example is the Tennessee Valley Project. - a subject that I tested and also wrote about. If you would like to read the article appeared several years ago in the magazine "Human Resources". Think economy too, it won't hurt. Science and economics can go hand in hand
Haim, before flying to Mars, return to the moon first.
Thanks for the correction, of course it's about kilometers
If 5760 meters is more than 15 times the height of the space station, it means that the space station floated at a height of about 380 meters, which means that in a tall building it is possible to shake hands with the astronauts through the window.
The Orion spacecraft is actually a larger and slightly more upgraded Apollo spacecraft. There is no new concept here in relation to the structure and configuration of spaceships. That's not how you fly to Mars. Sending 4-5 people to Mars will end in disaster. Just thinking that this team will stay in a box that is about 5 square meters is scary. I don't want to think about the social pressures these astronauts will have to endure for months. If you want, today you can build a spaceship that is much, much more spacious and user-friendly. Attached is a link to an article I wrote on the subject.
http://www.yekum.org/2014/04/%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%93-%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%94%D7%92%D7%99%D7%A2-%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%98%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%99/
Adi
You're right. Check. The publication stated
"miles 3,600".
I think you meant a height of 5760 kilometers and not 5760 meters...