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The launch date has slipped several times, with the latest September, 2014 target confirmed at the latest meeting of NASA\u2019s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) \u2013 conducted at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cEFT-1 remains on schedule for September 2014. The pacing element for this flight is the surrogate launch vehicle; the capsule itself is well on the path to testing,\u201d noted the meeting\u2019s minutes, pointing to the September, 2014 launch date being known for some time. \u201cThat flight will be followed by the uncrewed Exploration Mission (EM)-1 in the fourth quarter of CY2017.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/A44.jpg\" "\\"A44\\"")
The ASAP comments do appear to match notes acquired earlier in the year, which also pointed a finger at the Delta IV-H, as opposed to the EFT-1 Orion, as the main scheduling item. However, ULA claimed they were on track for the previous spring launch date for EFT-1.<\/p>\n\u201cThe LV for EFT-1 is in our production and launch queue and production is underway. The projected launch date has been agreed to between ULA, LM (Lockheed Marting) and NASA and ULA (and) is on track,\u201d noted noted Dr George Sowers, ULA VP for Human Launch Services, during a Q&A session with NASASpaceFlight.com members.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf Orion is planning to an earlier date, that is prudent since it\u2019s the first flight for the spacecraft and there\u2019s more risk. The Delta IV rocket, on the other hand, is a mature product.\u201d<\/p>\n
With no clear reason for the launch date moving out to the right, it is possible the launch date simply \u201cmatured\u201d out of the contract negotiations between NASA and Lockheed Martin at the start of the year, a period when the mission first moved from its late 2013 launch date into the Spring of 2014.<\/p>\n
For the purchase of the required Delta IV-Heavy, Lockheed Martin had to work a deal with NASA for purchasing one of the launch vehicles, a deal which is then updated to one between Lockheed Martin and the United Launch Alliance (ULA). Lockheed Martin and Boeing make up the ULA, the joint company is the body responsible for the Delta IV-H.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Z63.jpg\" "\\"Z6\\"")
It was also decided back in 2011 that a Joint Test and Mission Operations Team \u2013 consisting of NASA MOD (Mission Operations Directorate) and Lockheed Martin personnel \u2013 will control this mission.<\/p>\nAs such, the Lockheed Martin team will perform the entire test flight as a \u201cturn-key\u201d operation, implementing a more traditional support structure that includes MOD for the pre-flight testing support and full responsibility of the real-time test flight operations support from T-0 through splash down and post landing vehicle safing.<\/p>\n
Click here for EFT-1 Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/eft-1\/<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z48.jpg\" "\\"Z4\\"")
The mission itself \u2013 involving two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth\u2019s atmosphere on what is a multi-hour test, testing critical re-entry flight performance data and demonstrating early integration capabilities \u2013 is a vital step in NASA\u2019s Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) ambitions.<\/p>\nOrion will return home at a speed almost 5,000 miles per hour faster than that endured by the Space Shuttle orbiters, providing a crucial test of the vehicle\u2019s Thermal Protection System (TPS).<\/p>\n
As Orion re-enters the atmosphere, it will endure temperatures almost 2,000 degrees F., with the resulting data being fed into key reviews of the spacecraft\u2019s design, allowing the data to be input in a timely fashion so as to avoid any changes impacting on the 2017 debut of the Orion with the Space Launch System (SLS).<\/p>\n
However, the EFT-1 mission isn\u2019t just to test the heatshield, because once that element of the flight has been completed, Orion will require the use of drogue and main parachutes to slow its descent, en-route to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Z73.jpg\" "\\"Z7\\"")
EFT-1 is without a specific Design Reference Mission (DRM) classification \u2013 as observed in the latest Orion Concept Of Operations (CONOPS) presentation, available in L2 \u2013 but is heavily tagged as the first step in the path that should eventually lead to crewed missions to Mars.<\/p>\n\u201cEFT-1: Earth Orbit, High Energy Re-entry: This Lockheed Martin led operation \u2013 with NASA providing support and exercising an insight function \u2013 will be the first test of the Orion MPCV,\u201d noted the document.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EFT-1 mission will orbit the Earth twice in a highly elliptical orbit and will re-entry the Earth\u2019s atmosphere at higher speeds and energy than a low altitude orbital mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although EFT-1 is separated from the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) mission phase, it is classed as the final step ahead of the ESD \u201ctactical\u201d phase, which begins with EM-1.<\/p>\n
(Images: L2\u2019s Orion Sections, and NASA)<\/p>\n
(NSF and L2 are providing full exploration roadmap level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS\/CRS\/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles.)<\/p>\n
(Click here to join L2: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/ )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first test launch of NASA\u2019s new Orion spacecraft is currently being paced by its \u201csurrogate\u201d launch vehicle, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV-Heavy. The EFT-1 carrier rocket is already in production and in the launch queue, according to ULA, while the EFT-1 Orion continues to undergo outfitting operations at the Kennedy Space Center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}