Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Orion Launch

NASA ^ | December 06, 2014 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Headed for two orbits of planet Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific, Orion blazed into the early morning sky on Friday at 7:05am ET. The spacecraft was launched atop a United Launch Aliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Its first voyage into space on an uncrewed flight test, the Orion traveled some 3,600 miles from Earth, about 15 times higher than the orbital altitude of the International Space Station. In fact, Orion traveled farther into space than any spacecraft designed for astronauts since the Apollo missions to the Moon. The Orion crew module reached speeds of 20,000 miles per hour and temperatures approaching 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere about 4.5 hours after launch.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: NASA, Bill Ingalls]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[left that other site]

I witnessed a Night Launch of Atlantis back in 2000.

AWESOME!

[NormsRevenge]

Can I volunteer to go to Mars?

I just turned 6 zero..

Take the dogs ,, property taxes have to be cheaper there.

[Ken522]

That’s a beautiful image - thanks for posting it, SunkenCiv!

[telstar12.5]

Great, a friggin’ Apollo capsule 40 years later. I guess all the Rockwell boys have retired so the greenies at Boeing have to try to fill their shoes.

What exactly is there to get excited about, other than a glass cockpit and no cross-track capability?

[rktman]

Next test flight in, oh, 3/4 years. Manned(personed?) flight in 7. Yeah, we’re rocketing into the future. Well, except for maybe the splash down in the liquid ice. Too bad Sierra Nevada Corp didn’t make the cut but instead NASA went with their old standby pals from years past. Regardless, I used to love watching the orbiters launch. Awesome sight and sound. Especially if you happened to be near the VAB at KSC. Real chest pounder.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/12/eft-1-orion-historic-launch-atop-delta-iv-h/

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/events/2014/december/launch-delta4-heavy-orion-eft1.aspx

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/195317-watch-nasas-orion-launch-live-video
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/orion-in-the-ocean.jpg

This thing gets upstairs in a great big hurry. Fun to watch. Ignore the intermittent simulations.

Orion Soars on First Flight Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuOpxOrA_0

Orion, Delta IV Heavy Liftoff-Up Close
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDYK_qW6qHE

Launch Replays of Orion EFT-1 on Delta IV Heavy, The First Step to Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN2j2fQFP64

http://www.ulalaunch.com/products_deltaiv.aspx

Design simplicity, demonstrated capability and cost-efficiency define the RS-68A, the main engine for the Delta IV. Designed and manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the throttleable RS-68A engine is the largest existing hydrogen-burning engine. Conceived using a simplified design approach, the resulting engine requires 80 percent fewer parts than the Space Shuttle main engine, is lower risk, has reduced development and production costs and has inherently reliable operation... The Delta IV Heavy employs two additional CBCs as strap-on liquid rocket boosters (LRBs) to augment the first-stage CBC and 5-m-diameter PLF.

[SunkenCiv]

The reason for the design is, that’s the most efficient design. Maybe some gay decorators should be brought in instead? Eucalyptus arrangements in the foyer?

[Red_Devil 232]

Are there pictures of the splash down? All I have seen is a video of the three chutes taken by a drone.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. Too bad NASA won’t be using this launch system when they actually start using Orion for manned launches. The SLS will use four (they say two at first, but that won’t get it done) solid rocket boosters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System#Shuttle-derived_solid_rocket_boosters

Blocks I and IB of the SLS will use modified Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), extended from four segments to five segments. Unlike the Space Shuttle boosters, these will not be recovered and will sink into the Atlantic Ocean downrange.[24] Alliant Techsystems (ATK), the builder of the Space Shuttle SRBs, has completed three full-scale, full-duration static tests of the five-segment rocket booster. Development motor (DM-1) was successfully tested on September 10, 2009; DM-2 on August 31, 2010 and DM-3 on September 8, 2011. For DM-2 the motor was cooled to a core temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius), and for DM-3 it was heated to above 90 °F (32 °C). In addition to other objectives, these tests validated motor performance at extreme temperatures.[25][26][27] Each five-segment SRB has a thrust of 3,600,000 lbf (16 MN) at sea level.

[telstar12.5]

just monkeys in a can