NASA Postpones Orion Spacecraft Launch Due to Setbacks
The launch of NASA’s newest spacecraft had to be postponed due to various setbacks that continually delayed the launch until the open window passed. The Orion spacecraft launch, set to happen from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida,has been postponed until Friday.
NASA announced on Twitter that the launch would be tomorrow with the window beginning at 7 a.m. until 9:44 a.m.
According to ABC News, NASA postponed the launched three times this morning because of various issues. At little after 7 a.m. the space agency said a boat had entered the launch area and the take off was pushed back 13 minutes. However, the spacecraft did not take off then either, as strong winds hindered the launch. The new launch time of 8:26 a.m. was pushed back later. The third reason, a problem with a fuel and drain valve not closing, pushed the launch time until 9:44 a.m. NASA decided ultimately to push the launch until Friday.
USA Today explains the unmanned $375 million mission is designed to test the spacecraft’s resistance in orbit. Exploration Flight Test 1, as the mission is called, will test Orion’s crew module for two orbits around Earth. It will test the module’s computers, heat shields and parachutes.
Orion’s module can carry four crewmembers, one more than Apollo, and is being sent into space by a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket.
Orion will orbit as high as 36,000 miles high and will reenter Earth at around 20,000 mph to land off Mexico’s Pacific coast, where Navy ships will pick up the module.
"It is a test flight, and it's set up to be a risky flight," NASA Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer said, according to Space.com. This would be the first mission past low-Earth orbit since the Apollo missions. NASA hopes to send astronauts to asteroids by 2025 and Mars by the mid 2030s.
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