NASA spacecraft Orion lands in Pacific Ocean after completing test flight

NASA spacecraft Orion lands in Pacific Ocean after completing test flight

NASA's Orion completes its first test mission to complete two orbits and reach 3,600 miles on Friday.

NASA originally planned to launch their new spacecraft Orion Thursday, but it was scrubbed when NASA stated that there was a malfunctioning valve and weather issues. On Friday the spacecraft launch was a success and it passed its first test flight after landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The spacecraft, weighing 20,000 pounds, landed early Friday in the Pacific Ocean just 630 miles southwest of San Diego. It was launched into orbit from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:05 a.m. EST, and it arrived in the Pacific just four and a half hours afterward. The spacecraft splashed under 2 miles off its target.  NASA said that spacecraft appeared to have functioned well, according to the New York Times.

The spacecraft was unmanned and carrying mostly souvenirs and equipment. It safely bobbed upright in the Pacific awaiting the arrival of a retrieval team. All of the computers on board and the deployed parachutes remained intact after enduring excessive radiation from Van Allen belts surrounding Earth.

Orion’s mission aimed for two orbits. On the second lap around the earth, the spacecraft was predicted to reach an altitude of 3,600 miles at its peak.  This altitude guarantees temperatures of 4,000 degrees and a 20,000 mph re-entry speed, according to USA Today. This high speed aligns with a speed expected of a spacecraft to return from a flight beyond Earth’s orbit. It slowed from 20,000 mph to 20 mph, reached just before splashdown, in just 11 minutes.

According to The Associated Press, NASA’s mission was record-setting. Orion flew faster and farther than any capsule meant to host humans since the Apollo moon program 42 years ago. The altitude Orion reached was 14 times the altitude from Earth than the International Space Station.

Images from the flight were relayed back to NASA from Orion’s capsule window. A drone flying near the recovery zone also recovered images Orion’s return. Helicopters revealed images that confirmed three of the five airbags on Orion deployed correctly, which was enough to keep it floating.

This flight mission’s price was about $375 million. The successful flight paved the way for the capsule to be tested in space. Due to limited NASA funds, the next test flight will not occur until 2018.  Orion will not carry human passengers for at least seven years, 2021 at the earliest.

NASA hopes that this spacecraft will open doors for human exploration beyond the orbit of Earth and serve as a precursor to manned asteroid, Mars and moon missions. The New York Times reported that a spokesman for NASA described the flight as a “significant milestone” for NASA. The Atlantic reported that NASA mission control called the flight “perfect” and claimed that America “has driven a golden spike” for the future.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr. stated that NASA was a step closer to putting humans on Orion. He also called the successful mission “Day One of the Mars era,” according to Associated Press.

The spacecraft contained 1,200 sensors to gauge anything from radiation to heat to vibration. Orion is bigger and more advanced than the old Apollo capsules.  It stands at 11 feet tall with a 16.5-foot base, which is big enough to carry four passengers on longer journeys and six passengers on short three-week treks.

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