NASA Orion spacecraft transfers to Launch Abort System Facility

NASA and Lockheed Martin have finished fueling the Orion spacecraft with ammonia, hydrazine and high pressure helium at Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. 

Orion has now been moved to the Launch Abort System Facility for integration with the launch abort system (LAS).

"Once the launch abort system is integrated and functional testing concludes, the spacecraft is considered done," said Michael Hawes Lockheed Martin Orion program manager.

"Then in November we'll integrate to the rocket, which is rolling out to the launch pad today."

NASA engineers and contractors conduct static loads testing of the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) Fairing Assembly, flight hardware that will be used to cover and protect the Orion crew module during Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), scheduled for September 2014.

Image Credit: Lockheed Martin

Orion's LAS is a critical launch safety technology designed to immediately pull the capsule and crew out of harm's way in the event of an emergency.

The LAS is the highest thrust and acceleration escape system ever created, significantly improving crew safety from pad operations through ascent.

Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1)

It consists of three solid rocket motors: an attitude control motor, which steers the crew away from the launch vehicle, a jettison motor, which pulls the LAS away from the crew module, and an abort motor, which propels the crew module away from the launch pad.

During Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) all nominal functions, including separation, will be tested on the LAS, however the abort functions are inactive.

The LAS abort functions were previously tested in New Mexico at White Sands Missile Range during Pad Abort Test 1.

During EFT-1, the uncrewed spacecraft will launch on a Delta IV Heavy rocket and will travel 3,600 miles beyond Earth—15 times further than the International Space Station.

That same day, Orion will return to Earth at a speed of approximately 20,000 mph for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

EFT-1 will provide engineers with data about systems critical to crew safety such as heat shield performance, separation events, avionics and software performance, attitude control and guidance, parachute deployment, and recovery operations to validate designs of the spacecraft before it begins carrying humans to new destinations in deep space.

NASA Orbiter Processing Facilities: High-Tech Shuttle Garages

Image: Shuttle Columbia arrived at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility via the shuttle carrier aircraft in March 1979 after completing its ferry flight from Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Columbia then was towed into an OPF for processing for STS-1, NASA's first shuttle fight. Photo credit: NASA
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If home is where the heart is, then the heart and soul of NASA's space shuttle fleet reside in three custom-built, 29,000-square-foot buildings at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

They're formally called orbiter processing facilities (OPF), but routinely go by the names OPFs, bays, or hangars, and inside highly experienced technicians perform two-thirds of the work to prepare a shuttle for space.

The bays may be the highest-tech garages on the planet, where workers ready a spaceship for flight without scuffing it and huge cranes move tons of cargo into place. But it's also a place where staples are prohibited from the paperwork technicians work off of so the little pieces of metal don't accidentally become embedded in the shuttle's critical systems.

Fresh off Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility and back from a mission, shuttles are towed to their individual processing bays. In recent years, OPF-1 and OPF-2, which are connected by a 233-foot-long low bay, have been the residence of Atlantis and Endeavour, respectively. Across the street is OPF-3, the home base of Discovery. Once inside, technicians jack-and-level the shuttle to maintenance height where platforms and a main access bridge surround the spacecraft like a glove.

"Each high bay has a footprint of the orbiter, and when it rolls in, it has to fit to that footprint," said Wayne Bingham, a United Space Alliance, or USA, flow manager.

"We try to keep the platforms within a maximum distance of 6 to 8 inches, but a minimum of 4 inches."

NASA - Orbiter Processing Facilities: High-Tech Shuttle Garages



Image: In September 1983, technicians in Orbiter Processing Facility-2 inspect Spacelab-1 in the payload bay of shuttle Columbia. Photo credit: NASA
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Image: In OPF-2, technicians check out space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay before its final mission, STS-134. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin
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Image: Shuttle Discovery's tail fin clears the hangar door of Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at the end of its 39th and final spaceflight mission, STS-133 in March 2011. Inside the OPF, Discovery will be prepared for future public display. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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Image: Workers watch as shuttle Atlantis slowly backs out of OPF-1 during its rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building for its final mission, STS-135. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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ESA Mars Mission study in Moscow facility

The Mars500 study takes place in a special isolation facility at the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

The purpose of the Mars500 study is to gather data, knowledge and experience to help prepare for a real mission to Mars one day.

The participants are subjects in scientific investigations to assess the effect that isolation has on various psychological and physiological aspects, such as stress, hormone regulation and immunity, sleep quality, mood and the effectiveness of dietary supplements.

Credits: ESA

Iran's Hidden Nuclear Facility - Interactive MAP Feature - NYTimes.com

Iran?s Hidden Nuclear Facility - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

Iran's Hidden Nuclear Facility

Images show the details of a hidden facility in Iran that experts say is the nuclear site recently disclosed by the Obama administration. Information about the plant is from an analysis by IHS Jane's.

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Iran's newly disclosed nuclear fuel facility near Qom

Iran's newly disclosed nuclear fuel facility near Qom, Iran, is pictured in this GeoEye satellite photograph

Picture: REUTERS