Perfect Test Flight for Orion!

[nicodemusrat]

Early this morning, the new Orion module design was put through a full flight test (designated EFT-1). This is not the final vehicle but a first version of the capsule which may get NASA back to manned spaceflight. This flight is the furthest we've sent a capsule (though unmanned this time) from Earth since the Apollo 17 flight.

Comments

[sabotlours]

It was sad to hear that it's going to take so long to get to Mars not because of technical issues but because budgets are so tight. Yet I heard that the new defense budget was half a trillion dollars.

[henriekeg]

I'm excited for the Pluto flyby! We all watched the launch on TV yesterday. Always trying my best to not to take technology for granted and truly take in how amazing these achievements are!

[porsupah]

Mmm, New Horizons is promising to open up yet more new knowledge about our (outer) solar system. I wonder if there's any technical discussion of the kind of cameras in use on such missions, given the tiny amount of light they have to work with, compared to even nighttime on Earth.

And don't forget about Rosetta approaching the Sun! Not impossible Philae might yet be able to reawaken next year. ^_^ Pretty amazing they managed to complete the primary science suite even with the drastically reduced power budget available, though I suppose that was in part due to the primary battery not being rechargeable anyway.

I wonder if Reaction Engines offer any public access to their testing.. needless to say, as and when Skylon finally takes off, I really want to get some top-notch photos of that. That'll be a positively revolutionary development. ^_^