In order to keep astronaut safe in tough and yet exciting outer space missions, NASA built the Launch Abort System in their Orion spacecraft. For the first time, the unmanned Orion capsule will make its space debut on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014.
This week, NASA's new Orion space capsule with the Launch Abort System is set to fly to orbit on an unmanned test flight at 7:05 am EST from the Space Launch Complex 37 in Cape Canaveral in Florida. According to Space.com, the Orion is currently on top of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket that will transport it into space on its challenging test flight.
NASA has been developing technologies that will enable humans to explore new solar system destinations. The agency plans to use the Orion spacecraft, with the Launch Abort System positioned atop its crew module, to send a new generation of astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to places like an asteroid and eventually Mars.
NASA said Orion's Launch Abort system is designed to protect astronauts if a problem ascends during launch by pulling the spacecraft away from a failing rocket. It weighed almost 16,000 pounds and can activate within milliseconds to pull the vehicle to safety and position its crew module for a safe landing.
Meanwhile, Orion's first test flight will be on Thursday and NASA plans a second test flight in 2018. The Los Angeles Times said the second test flight would be unmanned and this time its destination will be around the moon and back.
For Thursday's mission, NASA aims to see how well the Orion gets away from and returns to Earth. Orion's astronaut-escape system and the Launch Abort System will get full-launch stress. Its high-tech computers will be subjected to deep-space radiation while its new maneuvering engines will get workouts.
NASA has projected to send its first manned mission by 2021 with the possibility to go around the moon and back. Eventually by the late 2020s, the agency foresees to send Orion and astronauts to an asteroid and by the late 2030s, the manned Orion mission will finally explore Mars.
NASA's Orion, which was built by Lockheed Martin equipped with the Launch Abort System that can move at transonic speeds that are nearly three times faster than the top speed of a fast sports car, will fly two orbits of Earth during the course of its four-and-a-half hours mission.
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