Launch News Orion EFT-1 Update thread

[Hlynkacg]

Are you really trying to reduce people's lives to simple math?

Yes, I am.

Without an objective method of cost/benefit analysis how the hell are we supposed to determine which risks are worth taking in the first place?

At the same time valuing life infinitely leads to equally absurd and evil conclusions.

An infinitely valuable human live would necessitate protection from anything that might shorten it. We barter risk to life and limb for experience all the time, so unless you’d also like to argue that greasy food, road trips, and skydiving are also of infinite value, enough so to be traded for with smidgens of human life, you need to "Shut up and multiply".

For craps sake, you're acting like the astronauts didn't volunteer for this.

 

[ISProgram]

...For craps sake, you're acting like the astronauts didn't volunteer for this.

I'm going to regret saying this, but he does have a point...

I personally think that we are starting delving in topics that shouldn't be on this thread (ethics of human spaceflight,etc...). I'm not saying this because I hate this talk, but this is a Orion EFT-1 Update Thread and what we are currently talking about definitely does not relate to said flight. Of course, you can post whatever you want here, so long as you don't break any rules on the forums, so you don't have to listen to me...

Maybe a separate thread, perhaps? Just a suggestion.

 

[Hlynkacg]

I personally think that we are starting delving in topics that shouldn't be on this thread...

Fair enough, I apologize for the thread-jack.

:threadjacked:

 

[ISProgram]

Fair enough, I apologize for the thread-jack.

:threadjacked:

Thanks, though I think I started it all with this post:

I know, right?

But apparently military payloads have a higher priority then spaceflight payloads because they're more of a "essential" service (cough*government shutdown*cough).

Below is a accurate representation of how I feel about the (arguably) top spaceflight event of the year being delayed by a military satellite...

:chainsaw:

Back to EFT-1. Does anyone know how this delay may affect pre-launch processing flow, the all-important Orion CDR, etc...? Basically, any possible repercussions of the delay.

 

[Unstung]

Source:
Universe Today: "NASA Unveils Orion’s Powerful Delta IV Heavy Rocket Boosters for Dec. 2014 Blastoff"

 

[ISProgram]

Sorry for necroposting, but there's news...

Universe Today: "World Largest Heat Shield Attached to NASA’s Orion Crew Capsule for Crucial Fall 2014 Test Flight"
NASASpaceFlight: "EFT-1 Orion’s heat shield installed ahead of key flight test"

EDIT: There's more!

​

NASA: "Apollo 10 was Moon Landing Rehearsal, EFT-1 Preps for Trips Beyond"

 

[Urwumpe]

Can't wait to see it fly, the Orion program has become extremely smooth and silently operating after the initial troubles. Sadly the European Service Module will not fly until 2017

 

[Kyle]

Coming together..

 

[ISProgram]

:hesaid:

NASA: "NASA's Orion Spacecraft Stacks Up for First Flight"

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Ooooh. Shiny!

 

[stealthstar]

It would be possible to create an EFT-1 scenario using an already existing delta 4 heavy addon and use an Orion CEV & service module as the payload. The only thing it may need is that modified upper stage engine which someone would have to create from scratch. But most of the hardware for an EFT-1 addon already exists in orbiter hangar. I do hope someone takes the time to create it. The time for EFT-1 is near, only 6 months away. I'm still learning the ropes for creating an addon but I'm not quite at that level yet.

 

[Kyle]

Aiming for a launch at 8:03am EST, December 4th. Window extends an hour.

 

[GigaG]

It's a bit sad that NASA won't be doing another mission after this until 2017, and no manned mission until 2020. Will the SLS really only be tested once (2017) before a manned flight? This sort of confuses me. And why was Constellation cancelled? The SLS is quite similar to the Ares V.

Anyways, does NASA plan to use SpaceX or other private companies for ISS flights? Or are we going to keep the Soyuz deal going?

 

[Kyle]

It's a bit sad that NASA won't be doing another mission after this until 2017, and no manned mission until 2020. Will the SLS really only be tested once (2017) before a manned flight? This sort of confuses me. And why was Constellation cancelled? The SLS is quite similar to the Ares V.

Anyways, does NASA plan to use SpaceX or other private companies for ISS flights? Or are we going to keep the Soyuz deal going?

You haven't heard of the Commercial Crew Program? SpaceX and NASA plans to start sending manned Dragon missions to the International Space Station in 2017, with a manned test flight in 2016. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser and Boeing's CST-100 are also in the league to send people to the ISS.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Ooooh. Shiny!

Is that the actual exterior of the vessel, or is a pressure hull sans TPS?

Nice bling if that is what it will look like in flight.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I meant it more along the lines of Firefly-speak shiny, but in the picture it is/was literally shiny.

 

[Deleted Orbinaut]

Aiming for a launch at 8:03am EST, December 4th. Window extends an hour.

NSF just put up a nice long-form summary of the program to this point:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/08/eft-1-orion-morning-launch-december-4/

And why was Constellation cancelled? The SLS is quite similar to the Ares V.

Read through the Augustine Commission report.
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf

 

[Kyle]

The first ever Orion spacecraft has been completed! Next up EFT-1 will be transferred to another facility to be fueled, and then fitted with the LAS, before being fitted atop the Delta IV Heavy at SLC-37B.

 

[DanM]

Hard to believe in only a dozen weeks' time, that thing is supposed to be in orbit. A lot of us doubted the day would ever come, but here we are now and the launch is well within sight.

Here's to great success in this new era of US Human Spaceflight

 

[RonDVouz]

Man, I'd really like to see what the final cockpit configuration is going to be.