NASA Social: Preview Orion’s First Flight Test Launch

For the first time ever, all 10 NASA field centers will participate in a multi-center NASA Social event Dec. 3, previewing the Dec. 4 first flight of the Orion Spacecraft on Exploration Flight Test-1.

NASA are inviting social media users to apply for a credential to attend an event in-person at one of eight locations through the country.

Each center will be connected via a multi-center NASA Television simulcast with Kennedy Space Center during its NASA Social, which was previously announced.

Orion will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 7:05 a.m. EST Dec. 4.

Along with discussing Orion and our Journey to Mars, participants will get a unique behind the scenes look at the respective center and the diverse work of the agency through tours and presentations with scientists, engineers and managers.

The events also will provide guests the opportunity to interact with fellow social media users, space enthusiasts and members of NASA's social media team.

Registration for the NASA Social closes at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2. Participants will be selected from online registrations.

No two locations are the same. Each center has a different itinerary depending on their location:

NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

Ames in California’s Silicon Valley will host up to 25 social media followers to commemorate the center’s many contributions to Orion. Ames engineers, scientists, managers and facilities have primarily supported the Orion Program with capabilities in supercomputing, wind tunnel testing and thermophysics.

Tours and speakers will cover the Pleiades supercomputer and NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility; the supersonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel; and heat shield research, development and testing, including the Arc Jet facilities that simulate the extreme conditions of atmospheric reentry.

Additional Ames tours and speakers will feature other highlights of the center's expertise in exploration, science and aeronautics research.

ISRO: India unveils its astronaut crew capsule, plans test launch

India, hoping to become the fourth nation to send humans into space, has unveiled a key element in the effort, an indigenously manufactured astronaut capsule.

The country's space agency has displayed a prototype of its first crew capsule module designed to carry two people into low Earth orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organization announced plans to send the test prototype into orbit with the first experimental flight of the country's latest rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III.

Capable of putting 10 tons of payload into a low-Earth orbit, it could launch in May or June from Sriharikota spaceport on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, the agency said.

Currently only the United States, Russia and China have accomplished the feat of putting humans into Earth orbit.

The Indian space agency said it has decided on the test flight even though the government has yet to grant approval and funding for a human space-flight program.

"We thought it better to [go ahead to] gain some confidence in the design of our crew module," said Sundaram Ramakrishnan, director of ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The capsule, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is intended to carry two or three astronauts into a low-Earth orbit on a weeklong mission.

Copenhagen Suborbitals Test Launch: Capsule Survives – Mostly

On August 12, Copenhagen Suborbitals conducted a scheduled test of their Tycho Deep Space Capsule launch escape system.

The launch went according to plan, but not so the landing.

The spacecraft went into a tumble before dropping the capsule into the Baltic Sea at shield-crunching speeds.

“We had perfect launch, but quickly the entire configuration began to tumble,” said Kristian von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals.

“The main chutes clearly did not have complete deployment and the capsule hit water in high speed, buckling the bottom shield.”