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Author
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Topic: [Discuss] NASA's Orion Exploration Flight Test
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Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 12-09-2014 10:26 AM
   
Anyone have any inklings as to who the manned lunar orbit crew will be?I know we're years away (assuming it happens at all), but I want to try to get those autographs as early as possible, lest I never get them. I always liked 24, though. It was a nice, round number, and double the number that walked. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-09-2014 10:37 AM
No flight assignments have been made as of yet. |
Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 12-09-2014 10:46 AM
I figured as much, but is there any gossip or whispers at all? Or have they not even started considering those aspects? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-09-2014 10:53 AM
The process hasn't begun. There are a few astronauts who are assigned to work Orion during its development but whether they will be on the first crew, or any crew, is unknown. |
Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 12-09-2014 11:04 AM
Alright, thanks!Any idea when they'll start looking into that? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-09-2014 11:26 AM
I would think sometime after EM-1 flies, so 2019 (possibly 2018). |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-09-2014 05:51 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Headshot:
Did the Orion Team get a congratulatory call from the president?
In addition to what I earlier posted about the White House extending congratulations, President Obama recognized the flight as well, according to NASA: President Obama, speaking to the Senior Executive Service, recognized Julie Kramer White, Orion's chief engineer, for the successful Orion flight test. He also noted the spacecraft's mission, saying that "when a human is the first to set foot (on Mars), they will have Julie and her team to thank and at that point, I'll be out of the presidency and I might hitch a ride." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-10-2014 09:46 AM
In addition to the photos shared on the status thread, here are some additional images of Orion being offloaded from the USS Anchorage, courtesy Francis Francis (Thanks Francis!): 
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dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 12-10-2014 11:25 AM
Is there a reason they are sending via truck to Florida and not via Guppy/Cargo jet etc. Is it going to be doing publicity stops along the way? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-10-2014 11:32 AM
The Orion still has aboard hazardous fuels such that ground transportation was the only option. Safing of the vehicle won't take place until its back at Kennedy Space Center, ruling out publicity stops along the way. |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 12-10-2014 06:43 PM
What kind of environment are the parachutes stored onboard; are they temperature controlled? Since they are not in an accessible place on the vehicle, what mechanism exists to verify they are still good after extended trips into space, ie multi-year round trip to Mars for example. |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 797
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-11-2014 05:53 PM
Two one-inch-wide holes have been drilled into tiles on Orion's back shell to simulate micrometeoroid orbital debris damage. Sensors on the vehicle will record how high temperatures climb inside the hole during Orion's return through Earth's atmosphere following its first flight in December. Any word on how the 'holes' held up and what temperatures were recorded? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-11-2014 05:55 PM
Other than taking some core samples of the heat shield and removing some of the data recorders, analysis of the Orion capsule won't begin until it reaches Kennedy Space Center late next week. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-19-2014 02:05 PM
NASA video release Astronaut's-Eye View of NASA's Orion Re-entryNew video recorded during NASA's Orion return through Earth's atmosphere provides viewers a taste of what the vehicle endured as it returned through Earth's atmosphere during its Dec. 5 flight test. |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 797
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-20-2014 02:04 PM
At 00:06:00:XX = ? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-20-2014 02:11 PM
It says on screen at 05:55: you're seeing the reaction control system thrusters firing until the pilot parachutes are deployed. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-25-2014 06:41 PM
NASA engineer (and former flight director) Milt Heflin, who participated in eight Apollo splashdowns, was aboard the USS Anchorage for Orion's recovery. He shared his firsthand account with the Houston Chronicle. Standing there on the deck of the USS Anchorage, my mind couldn’t help but drift back nearly forty years.The date was July 24, 1975, and I was a NASA recovery engineer aboard the USS New Orleans west of the Hawaiian Islands. We were all set for the return of the crew from the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint mission with what was then known as the Soviet Union. From 1968 to 1975, I had been on the scene for eight Apollo splashdowns – Apollo 8, 10, 16, 17 and all three Skylab flights, as well as ASTP. Thirty-nine years after that last Apollo landing, I saw the ninth splashdown of my career... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-13-2015 04:18 PM
Engineers have begun disassembling the Orion to perform post-flight analysis.Photos courtesy the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSC employees were invited today to view the capsule at the Launch Abort System Facility).  
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-13-2015 04:20 PM
 
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p51
Member Posts: 1769
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 02-26-2015 03:47 PM
Wow, what kind of paint did they use for that U.S. flag? It never occurred to me it could possibly look that good after re-entry.Yeah, I know the STS tile markings could be read after several re-entries but that flag looks awfully bright afterward! |
Headshot
Member Posts: 1221
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 04-01-2015 06:43 AM
Has Lockheed issued their final, comprehensive test report on the flight to NASA yet? Is it available online? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 50516
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-01-2015 07:50 AM
At last update, Lockheed said it was submitting its final post-flight report to NASA at the beginning of March. To my knowledge, it has not been made public. |
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