NASA Orion (MPCV) spacecraft on the move

NASA's Orion spacecraft, preparing for it's first flight, departs the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on its way to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. 

Orion is scheduled for a test flight in early December. 

Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

NASA is one step closer to launching its newest spacecraft designed for humans.

Workers at Kennedy Space Center gathered to watch as the Orion capsule emerged from its assembly hangar Thursday, less than three months from its first test flight.

The capsule, sealed for protection, slowly made its way to its fueling depot atop a 36-wheel platform.

The capsule and its attached service module and adapter ring stretched 40 feet (12 meters) high.

"Isn't this awesome?" said Kennedy's director, Robert Cabana, a former space shuttle commander.

"This is our step to the future, the exploration of establishing a presence in the solar system."

Space center employees lined up along the rope barricade to snap pictures of Orion capsule, NASA's lofty follow-on to the now-retired space shuttle program.

During its Dec. 4 test flight, the unmanned capsule will shoot more than 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) into space and take two big laps around Earth before re-entering the atmosphere at 20,000 mph (32,000 kph) and parachuting into the Pacific off the San Diego coast. The entire mission will last 4½ hours.

The second Orion flight won't occur until around 2018 when another unmanned capsule soars atop NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS), still under development.

NASA intends to put astronauts aboard Orion in 2021 for deep space exploration; each capsule can accommodate up to four.

The plan is to use Orion for getting humans to asteroids and Mars, no space station ferry trips for Orion.

A handful of private U.S. companies are competing for these short taxi flights; NASA expects in the next week or so to pick one or two candidates for funding.

NASA's Orion spacecraft, preparing for it's first flight, departs the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on its way to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. 

Orion is scheduled for a test flight in early December. 

Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

While Orion may resemble an oversize Apollo capsule on the outside, everything inside and out is modern and top-of-the-line, officials noted Thursday.

"I'm as excited as can be," said NASA's Orion production operations manager, Scott Wilson.

For Orion's dry run, the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built capsule will have hunks of aluminum in place of seats for ballast, and simulators instead of actual cockpit displays. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket will do the heavy lifting.

When asked by a reporter, Cabana said he wishes Orion's flight pace was quicker.

NASA's Orion spacecraft, preparing for it's first flight, arrives at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Orion is scheduled for a test flight in early December. 

Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

"But it is what it is," he said. "Given the budget that we have, I think we've got the best program that you could imagine."

Orion has its roots in the post-Columbia shuttle era; it originated a decade ago as a crew exploration vehicle to get astronauts beyond low Earth orbit and managed to survive the cancellation of the Constellation moon project.

Audit report: NASA doesn't have the money for Space Launch System (SLS)

NASA does not have enough money to get its new, $12 billion SLS rocket system off the ground by the end of 2017 as planned, federal auditors say.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report Wednesday saying NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is at "high risk of missing" its planned December 2017 initial test flight.

The post-space shuttle program would build the biggest rockets ever, larger than the Saturn V rockets which sent men to the moon, to send astronauts to asteroids and Mars.

"They can't meet the date with the money they have," report author Cristina Chaplain said. She said it wasn't because the space agency had technical problems with the congressionally-required program, but that NASA didn't get enough money to carry out the massive undertaking.

The GAO report put the current shortfall at $400 million, but did say NASA was "making solid progress" on the rocket program design.

NASA's launch system officials told the GAO that there was a 90 percent chance of not hitting the launch date at this time.

This usually means NASA has to delay its test launch date, get more money or be less ambitious about what it plans to do, said former NASA associate administrator Scott Pace, space policy director at George Washington University.

NASA is working on the problems GAO highlighted, but delaying launch or diverting money from other programs would harm taxpayers, NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier wrote in the agency's response.

"Welcome to aerospace," Pace said, pointing out that large space projects often end up as much as 50 percent over budget. He said that "is why you shouldn't believe initial cost estimates."

The space agency has been reluctant to put an overall price tag on the Space Launch System.

The GAO report says it will cost $12 billion to get to the first test launch and "potentially billions more to develop increasingly capable vehicles" that could be used for launches to asteroids and Mars.

More information: GAO audit: www.gao.gov/assets/670/664969.pdf

Space Launch System (SLS): NASA’s Next Generation Launchers

Image Credit: NASA

NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, will be the most powerful rocket in history.

The flexible, evolvable design of this advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle will meet a variety of crew and cargo mission needs.

In addition to carrying the Orion spacecraft, SLS will transfer important cargo, equipment and science experiments to deep space, providing the nation with a safe, affordable and sustainable means to expand our reach in the solar system.

It will allow astronauts aboard Orion to explore multiple deep-space destinations including an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

The first configuration of the SLS launch vehicle will have a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance of the integrated system.

As the SLS is evolved, it will be the most powerful rocket ever built and provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons) to enable missions even farther into our solar system.

Space Launch System Core Stage Model 'Sounds' Off for Testing

A 5-percent scale model of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage fires up for another round of acoustic testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. 

SLS, NASA's new rocket, will be the largest, most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions. 

The SLS core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines. 

The acoustic tests, which began in January, will show how powerful noise from the engines and boosters can impact the rocket and crew, especially at liftoff. 

Data from the tests will help verify the rocket's design and help develop an effective suppression system to stifle the sound. 

The current test series, which began March 20, will be used to determine the noise reduction capabilities of the water suppression system at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. 

The system will be used for core stage "green run" testing. 

"Green run" testing ensures all stage and engine parts have been exposed to flight-like environments prior to use on a mission.

Image Credit: NASA /MSFC /David Olive

NASA Orion EFT-1: First Test Flight of Orion Space Capsule delayed until December

Artist's concept of a ULA Delta 4 Heavy rocket standing poised on the pad ready to launch NASA's Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1).

The first flight of Orion is now slated for December 2014.

Credit: NASA

he countdown to the maiden launch of Orion, a NASA space capsule designed to take astronauts out into the solar system, is now three months longer than previously planned.

The space agency on Friday (March 14) announced that it was retargeting the first flight of its Orion spacecraft from autumn to just before winter this year.

"The Orion team continues to work toward completing the spacecraft to be ready for a launch in [the] September [to] October [period]," NASA stated on its website.

"However, the initial timeframe for the launch of the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) has shifted ... to early December to support allowing more opportunities for launches this year."



The EFT-1 mission will fly the Orion capsule to an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, more than 15 times farther out than where the International Space Station (ISS) orbits.

By flying out to those distances, NASA will be able to judge how Orion performs in, and returns from, deep-space journeys.

Flying atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 Heavy rocket, EFT-1 precedes the first flight of the Orion capsule on its intended launch vehicle, NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS), targeted for 2017.

By 2021, NASA plans to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a mission to the vicinity of the moon to rendezvous with a redirected asteroid, before ultimately launching a crew to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA's FY 2015 Budget Proposal - Video

NASA's budget supports our new Strategic Plan to drive advances in science, technology, aeronautics and space exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality and stewardship of Earth.

To send humans to an asteroid by 2025, NASA is formulating the first-ever mission to identify and redirect an asteroid.

The budget also supports the extension of the International Space Station (ISS) to at least 2024, which is essential to sending humans to deep space destinations and returning benefits to humanity through research and development.

The budget proposes an additional $886 million for NASA as part of the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, including additional funding for Science, Space Launch System (SLS), Orion, Technology, ISS, and Commercial Crew.

NASA Turns Up the Heat On Construction of the SLS

An adapter for the Orion spacecraft under construction at the Marshall Center.

Credit: NASA/MSFC

Welding engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have had an extremely busy winter assembling adapters that will connect the Orion spacecraft to a Delta IV rocket for the initial test flight of Orion in 2014.

The adapter later will attach Orion to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a new heavy-lift rocket managed and in development at the Marshall Center that will enable missions farther into space than ever before.

The 2014 Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) will provide engineers with important data about the adapter's performance before it is flown on SLS beginning in 2017.

In a high bay of Marshall's Building 4755, expert welders using state-of-the-art friction stir welding machines worked on two separate adapters.

For each adapter, a vertical welding machine stitched panels together to form a conical cylinder, then a circumferential welding machine attached a thicker, structural support ring at the top and the bottom.

"While the adapters are identical and are considered flight articles, only one will actually be used for EFT-1," said Brent Gaddes, Spacecraft & Payload Integration Subsystem manager.

"The other will undergo strenuous structural testing to ensure quality, while its twin will make the trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for integration into the rest of the test vehicle for launch."

United Launch Alliance (ULA), which makes the Delta IV rocket in nearby Decatur, Ala., will deliver a full-size section of the rocket later this spring for engineers to test the fit of the adapter.

"You really don't have the tools and the resources in one place anywhere else in the world," said Justin Littell, a mechanical engineer with the welding group at the Marshall Center. "The work that we do here is exciting and I get to work with a great team. It's amazing."

See the friction stir welds in action in this video:

NASA Orion Spacecraft Image

Technicians prepare to fit a special fixture around an Orion capsule inside the high bay of the Operations & Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

The fixture is designed to enable precise pre-launch processing of the Orion spacecraft. Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed and carry astronauts farther into space than ever before. 

It will sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space and emergency abort capability. 

Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. 

Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system. 

 Image Credit: NASA

NASA's Space Launch System: Langley Wind Tunnel Test

NASA's Space Launch System buffet model in NASA's Langley Researcher Center's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. 

The SLS is America's next heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. 

Image credit: NASA/LaRC

NASA - A Summer of Records for J-2X Engine Testing

NASA is setting new records while testing the J-2X powerpack at the Stennis Space Center.

Image Credit: NASA/SSC

The first time was June 8, when engineers went the distance and set the Test Complex A record with a 1,150-second firing of the developmental powerpack assembly.

On July 24, engineers surpassed that record with a 1,350-second test of the engine component on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis.

The powerpack is a system of components on the top portion of the J-2X engine. On the complete J-2X engine, the powerpack feeds the thrust chamber, which produces the engine fire and thrust.

The advantage of testing the powerpack without the thrust chamber is to operate over a wide range of conditions to understand safe limits.

The July 24 test specifically gathered data on performance of the liquid oxygen and fuel pumps during extreme conditions.

The test data provides critical information for continued development of the turbopump for use on the J-2X engine, the first human-rated liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in four decades.

The J-2X is being built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The J-2X engine will power the upper-stage of a planned two-stage Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads, and provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

Designed to be safe, affordable and flexible for crew and cargo missions, the SLS will continue America's journey of discovery and exploration to destinations including nearby asteroids, Lagrange points, the moon and ultimately, Mars.