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OT true - How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 30th 18, 03:22 AM posted to alt.astronomy
herbert glazier
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,045
Default OT true - How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon

On Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 3:01:39 PM UTC-8, a425couple wrote:
How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon

The U.S. space agency is rigorously testing its Orion spacecraft in
hopes of launching its first mission to the moon as early as 2019.

By Ramin Skibba
PUBLISHED JANUARY 26, 2018

A joint NASA and Navy recovery team recently spent a week aboard the USS
Anchorage testing procedures and ground-support equipment for the Orion
spacecraft, NASA's next capsule for sending humans into space.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA
The recovery tests, conducted off the California coast, are designed to
simulate what happens when an Orion mission returns to Earth.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA
U.S. Navy divers assist NASA as they recover a mock-up Orion capsule
from the waters off San Diego.
PHOTOGRAPH BY PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS ABE MCNATT, US NAVY
Seen off the rear of the USS Anchorage, the Orion test capsule gets
pulled in by a winch line.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA

NASA has been subjecting its Orion space capsule to a battery of tests
designed to tell whether the spacecraft is ready to ferry humans into
orbit and beyond. So far, the capsule seems to be on track—in a series
of maneuvers this week, a joint team of NASA and U.S. Navy specialists
successfully recovered the spaceship from the sea off the coast of San
Diego, simulating what would happen when a deep-space mission splashed
back to Earth.

If all goes to plan, Orion will become NASA’s flagship technology for
launching astronauts to orbit and even to deep space, including to the
lunar surface and maybe Mars. Here’s what’s at stake with Orion, and
what still needs to be done before it can blast off.

Wait, aren’t U.S. astronauts already getting into space?

Yes, but not on NASA spacecraft. The space shuttle program ended in
2011, and the remaining shuttles are now on display in museums around
the country. Since then, American astronauts have had to hitch rides to
the International Space Station on Russian rockets, and NASA has sent
supplies to the ISS via SpaceX and Orbital ATK launches.

Until Orion becomes available, NASA astronauts have no other way to get
to low-Earth orbit and beyond. Commercial space companies like SpaceX
and Boeing are developing their own crew capsules capable of reaching
the ISS. But when it comes to sending people to the moon or deeper into
space, it's not clear yet who will be first to the launch pad.

If Orion’s just a capsule, how will it get off the ground?

Orion is the part that holds the astronauts and research equipment, like
a bigger and much improved version of the Apollo capsules. It will be
combined with the Space Launch System, a new rocket that is under
development and being tested at the same time. Although it has been
criticized for excessive costs and delays, the SLS continues to move
forward. When ready, it will be more powerful than its competitors,
including SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which is due to take its maiden voyage
in the coming weeks.

Since it can’t land like a shuttle, how will Orion bring astronauts back?

Orion is designed with a heat shield that can withstand temperatures up
to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it reenters the atmosphere. Once the
capsule slows from 25,000 miles an hour to “only” 300 miles an hour on
its descent, it will deploy parachutes to slow it down even more and
splash down as gently as possible off the coast of San Diego, where
naval ships will be waiting for it. Navy divers will set up a floating
platform around the crew module bobbing in the water so that they can
first recover the astronauts.

“The crew might feel wobbly,” after their time in space and reentry,
says Charles Lundquist, Orion deputy program manager. The recovery team
will then attach a winch to Orion and pull it onto the ship’s well deck
so the capsule can be reused.

What kinds of tests are they doing on Orion?

This week, NASA has been testing the processes for recovering Orion with
the U.S.S. Anchorage, using a mock-up capsule that has about the same
size, shape, weight, and center of gravity of the real thing. They’re
also testing ground-support equipment, the heat shield, parachute
systems, and all the electronics and software. All the components need
to come together for Orion’s first big mission.

Astronaut Stephen G. Bowen evokes the memories of Apollo 1 and the space
shuttles Challenger and Columbia as he emphasizes “how critical it is
that we get this right.” Safety is foremost on NASA scientists’ and
engineers’ minds as they try to minimize the risks of space travel.

What’s the plan for Orion’s first mission?

Once it detaches from the SLS and has the right trajectory, Orion will
fly past the moon and return to Earth over a three-week period.
Exploration Mission 1, as it’s called, is slated to launch in December
2019, but that date could get pushed back into the following year.

The first mission will be uncrewed, but subsequent ones will be more
ambitious. NASA currently plans to use Orion to help astronauts build a
new space station beyond Earth’s atmosphere, dubbed Deep Space Gateway.
Such a station would enable more research on the moon as well as
allowing ships to be assembled in space for even more distant missions.

I heard Orion will eventually go to Mars. Is that true?

That’s the plan for now, but it probably wouldn’t happen until the
mid-2030s. NASA’s long-term “Journey to Mars” depends on the success of
a bunch of missions between now and then, starting with this Orion
demonstration. (SpaceX also wants to go to Mars, but there are lots of
reasons why humans aren’t there yet.)

How does President Trump’s focus on the moon fit into that?

Unlike the Apollo program, which focused entirely on getting humans on
the moon, NASA is trying to make Orion versatile enough to handle a wide
range of missions. It would be capable of lunar missions, satisfying
Trump’s objectives—for the most part. Trump wanted NASA to send
astronauts on Orion’s maiden voyage around the moon, but the agency
decided that the additional costs, time, and risks outweighed the benefits.

Since there won’t be astronauts on board, they’ll instead use the first
mission to test the limits of the spacecraft. They’ll also ensure that
the communication systems work like they’re supposed to, since some
processes will be piloted from the ground.

So, what comes next?

Assuming the tests continue to go well, NASA plans to put the real
Orion’s components together at Kennedy Space Center in Florida by the
end of this year, and then they’ll ship the whole thing to the Plum
Brook Facility in Ohio, where they’ll subject it to final tests that
simulate the vacuum and frigid temperature of space. Then they’ll send
it back to Florida to prepare for launch.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...space-science/


NASAcan't go anywhere without paying the commies for the ride.With JFK we had the right stuff.Now with Trump the only stuff we got is more of his BS.Bert
  #2  
Old January 30th 18, 04:00 AM posted to alt.astronomy
hanson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,934
Default OT true - How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon

Crack-whore "reber G=EMC^2" wrote:
snipped Glazier's parroted old and re-warmed Glazierola
which made people laugh AT you, Bert, which makes you
even more depressed then you already are. "O ya. It's a pity".

So Glazier, old Pali, go back to happier subjects in yesterdays
posts. "Go Figure" and describe in glowing self-pimping terms:
Bert, "What exactly were you stealing on those 2 occasions?


  #3  
Old January 31st 18, 12:18 AM posted to alt.astronomy
Double-A[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,515
Default OT true - How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon

On Monday, January 29, 2018 at 6:22:26 PM UTC-8, Herbert Glazier wrote:
On Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 3:01:39 PM UTC-8, a425couple wrote:
How NASA Plans to Send Humans Back to the Moon

The U.S. space agency is rigorously testing its Orion spacecraft in
hopes of launching its first mission to the moon as early as 2019.

By Ramin Skibba
PUBLISHED JANUARY 26, 2018

A joint NASA and Navy recovery team recently spent a week aboard the USS
Anchorage testing procedures and ground-support equipment for the Orion
spacecraft, NASA's next capsule for sending humans into space.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA
The recovery tests, conducted off the California coast, are designed to
simulate what happens when an Orion mission returns to Earth.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA
U.S. Navy divers assist NASA as they recover a mock-up Orion capsule
from the waters off San Diego.
PHOTOGRAPH BY PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS ABE MCNATT, US NAVY
Seen off the rear of the USS Anchorage, the Orion test capsule gets
pulled in by a winch line.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NASA

NASA has been subjecting its Orion space capsule to a battery of tests
designed to tell whether the spacecraft is ready to ferry humans into
orbit and beyond. So far, the capsule seems to be on track—in a series
of maneuvers this week, a joint team of NASA and U.S. Navy specialists
successfully recovered the spaceship from the sea off the coast of San
Diego, simulating what would happen when a deep-space mission splashed
back to Earth.

If all goes to plan, Orion will become NASA’s flagship technology for
launching astronauts to orbit and even to deep space, including to the
lunar surface and maybe Mars. Here’s what’s at stake with Orion, and
what still needs to be done before it can blast off.

Wait, aren’t U.S. astronauts already getting into space?

Yes, but not on NASA spacecraft. The space shuttle program ended in
2011, and the remaining shuttles are now on display in museums around
the country. Since then, American astronauts have had to hitch rides to
the International Space Station on Russian rockets, and NASA has sent
supplies to the ISS via SpaceX and Orbital ATK launches.

Until Orion becomes available, NASA astronauts have no other way to get
to low-Earth orbit and beyond. Commercial space companies like SpaceX
and Boeing are developing their own crew capsules capable of reaching
the ISS. But when it comes to sending people to the moon or deeper into
space, it's not clear yet who will be first to the launch pad.

If Orion’s just a capsule, how will it get off the ground?

Orion is the part that holds the astronauts and research equipment, like
a bigger and much improved version of the Apollo capsules. It will be
combined with the Space Launch System, a new rocket that is under
development and being tested at the same time. Although it has been
criticized for excessive costs and delays, the SLS continues to move
forward. When ready, it will be more powerful than its competitors,
including SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which is due to take its maiden voyage
in the coming weeks.

Since it can’t land like a shuttle, how will Orion bring astronauts back?

Orion is designed with a heat shield that can withstand temperatures up
to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it reenters the atmosphere. Once the
capsule slows from 25,000 miles an hour to “only” 300 miles an hour on
its descent, it will deploy parachutes to slow it down even more and
splash down as gently as possible off the coast of San Diego, where
naval ships will be waiting for it. Navy divers will set up a floating
platform around the crew module bobbing in the water so that they can
first recover the astronauts.

“The crew might feel wobbly,” after their time in space and reentry,
says Charles Lundquist, Orion deputy program manager. The recovery team
will then attach a winch to Orion and pull it onto the ship’s well deck
so the capsule can be reused.

What kinds of tests are they doing on Orion?

This week, NASA has been testing the processes for recovering Orion with
the U.S.S. Anchorage, using a mock-up capsule that has about the same
size, shape, weight, and center of gravity of the real thing. They’re
also testing ground-support equipment, the heat shield, parachute
systems, and all the electronics and software. All the components need
to come together for Orion’s first big mission.

Astronaut Stephen G. Bowen evokes the memories of Apollo 1 and the space
shuttles Challenger and Columbia as he emphasizes “how critical it is
that we get this right.” Safety is foremost on NASA scientists’ and
engineers’ minds as they try to minimize the risks of space travel.

What’s the plan for Orion’s first mission?

Once it detaches from the SLS and has the right trajectory, Orion will
fly past the moon and return to Earth over a three-week period.
Exploration Mission 1, as it’s called, is slated to launch in December
2019, but that date could get pushed back into the following year.

The first mission will be uncrewed, but subsequent ones will be more
ambitious. NASA currently plans to use Orion to help astronauts build a
new space station beyond Earth’s atmosphere, dubbed Deep Space Gateway.
Such a station would enable more research on the moon as well as
allowing ships to be assembled in space for even more distant missions.

I heard Orion will eventually go to Mars. Is that true?

That’s the plan for now, but it probably wouldn’t happen until the
mid-2030s. NASA’s long-term “Journey to Mars” depends on the success of
a bunch of missions between now and then, starting with this Orion
demonstration. (SpaceX also wants to go to Mars, but there are lots of
reasons why humans aren’t there yet.)

How does President Trump’s focus on the moon fit into that?

Unlike the Apollo program, which focused entirely on getting humans on
the moon, NASA is trying to make Orion versatile enough to handle a wide
range of missions. It would be capable of lunar missions, satisfying
Trump’s objectives—for the most part. Trump wanted NASA to send
astronauts on Orion’s maiden voyage around the moon, but the agency
decided that the additional costs, time, and risks outweighed the benefits.

Since there won’t be astronauts on board, they’ll instead use the first
mission to test the limits of the spacecraft. They’ll also ensure that
the communication systems work like they’re supposed to, since some
processes will be piloted from the ground.

So, what comes next?

Assuming the tests continue to go well, NASA plans to put the real
Orion’s components together at Kennedy Space Center in Florida by the
end of this year, and then they’ll ship the whole thing to the Plum
Brook Facility in Ohio, where they’ll subject it to final tests that
simulate the vacuum and frigid temperature of space. Then they’ll send
it back to Florida to prepare for launch.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/...space-science/


NASAcan't go anywhere without paying the commies for the ride.With JFK we had the right stuff.Now with Trump the only stuff we got is more of his BS..Bert



When US astronauts return to the moon it will be with SpaceX.

Double-A

 




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