Tag: Orion
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NASA confirms first flight of Space Launch System will slip to 2019
Artist’s concept of the Space Launch System lifting off from launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/MSFC NASA’s top human spaceflight official says the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, a behemoth booster designed to loft astronauts on expeditions into deep space, will be delayed from November 2018 until…
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Trump signs NASA authorization act, Pence to chair National Space Council
President Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 on Tuesday, surrounded by members of Congress and astronauts. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls President Donald Trump signed a new NASA authorization bill Tuesday, the first such space policy framework since early in the Obama administration, that largely continues the space agency’s efforts to foster a commercial…
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Orion’s parachutes tested under launch abort conditions
Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News A model of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, in development to loft astronaut crews into deep space, was dropped from a U.S. Air Force cargo plane over Arizona on Wednesday in the latest in a series of tests to verify the capsule’s parachutes are up to the job of safely landing with…
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NASA studying whether to add astronauts to first launch of new super booster
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible — or advisable — to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space…
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Investigating the potential of including a crew on the maiden flight of SLS
With NASA’s management officially informing the workforce that evaluations are taking place into installing a crew on to the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), the challenge of ensuring crew safety will gain additional focus. Without an uncrewed test flight, a modification to the Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) profile is likely, ranging from…
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NASA looks into sending astronauts on a trip beyond the moon as early as 2019
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Orion capsule in flight. (NASA Illustration) NASA and its commercial partners say they’re studying the possibility of sending astronauts beyond the moon years earlier than planned, by putting a crew on the first flight of the space agency’s heavy-lift Space Launch System. The NASA study, sparked in part by a desire…
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Tornado strikes NASA’s Michoud plant in New Orleans
Employees and flight hardware for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spaceship were mostly spared after a strong tornado struck the agency’s Michoud plant in New Orleans on Tuesday, but crews planned to begin repairs immediately to plug holes in buildings housing parts and tools to build the new mega-rocket. The tornado hit Michoud in…
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Shuttle engine delivered to Orion service module assembly site
Orion’s service module engine undergoes vibration testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA A former space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine has been delivered to Germany for attachment to the European-built service module destined to steer NASA’s next Orion spacecraft on a course around the moon on an uncrewed test flight in…
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Software and Service Module cited as main critical paths to EM-1 launch date
A top level overview at NASA’s Advisory Council (NAC) has shown most of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft flows are on track for a 2018 launch of Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1). However, engineers are continuing to battle against critical path issues with the European Service Module and flight software. Path to EM-1:…
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NASA keeping human spaceflight options open as Trump presidency looms
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft during a lunar flyby maneuver on its planned unpiloted test flight in 2018. Credit: NASA NASA is taking steps to rein in costs, emphasizing bonds with private sector companies, and signaling it might be open to a future where the agency’s flagship Orion deep space capsule and Space Launch…