Orion

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Johnson Space Center‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Johnson 16 ч. назад

We're testing how to get astronauts safely back on dry land when they return from deeper in space than ever before aboard @NASA_Orion.

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How Will The Crew Exit Orion?
Using the waters off the coast of Galveston, Texas, a NASA and Department of Defense team tested Orion exit procedures in a variety of scenarios July 10-14.

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Теперь и на ТыТрубе

NASA Tests Orion Crew Exit Plans in Gulf of Mexico

NASA Johnson

Опубликовано: 20 июл. 2017 г.

A NASA and Department of Defense team evaluated the techniques that will be used to make sure astronauts can exit Orion in a variety of scenarios upon splashdown after deep space missions, using the waters off the coast of Galveston, Texas, to test their procedures in July. The team used a mockup of the spacecraft to examine how crew will get out of Orion with assistance and alone. The testing is helping NASA prepare for Orion and Space Launch System missions with crew beginning with Exploration Mission-2 in the early 2020s.

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Orion Spacecraft‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Orion 8 ч. назад

Bring the noise! Acoustic testing starts today on Orion's ogive and hatch at @NASAglenn Plum Brook Station. Sound levels will reach 161db!

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Orion STA undergoing pre-mission testing in Denver

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 34 мин. назад

Lockheed Martin images on an under-publicized page of the Orion STA and friends in Denver. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/sets/72157626004211734/ ...

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/orion-supplier-readies-shipment-of-orion-astronauts-windows-on-the-universe

Aug. 9, 2017
Orion Supplier Readies Shipment of Orion Astronauts' Windows on the Universe

When the first crew of astronauts fly aboard the Orion spacecraft, they will be able to look through a window and view the moon and Earth fr om their deep-space vantage point. The window panel that will provide that view is ready for shipment to NASA. AMRO Fabricating Corp., of South El Monte, California, has completed a section of the Orion pressure vessel, or underlying structure of the spacecraft that will send astronauts farther than humans have ever traveled before on Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2).

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The panel of Orion's underlying structure for Exploration Mission-2 containing the spacecraft's windows is manufactured by AMRO Fabricating Corp., in South El Monte, California.

Orion's four windows are contained in one of three cone panels that AMRO is manufacturing for NASA and Orion prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft's pressure vessel has seven structural elements, including the three cone panels. AMRO will ship the panel to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans by the end of August, where it will be outfitted with strain gauges and wiring for monitoring purposes and joined together with other pieces of the pressure vessel scheduled to arrive at Michoud in the coming months.

"Many of our suppliers around the country are already starting to manufacture elements of the Orion for our first mission with astronauts," said Paul Marshall, assistant program manager for Orion. "Their work enables NASA's push to expand our boundaries into space and eventually our voyage to Mars."

The pressure vessel forms the sealed environment inside where astronauts will live and the structure upon which all the other elements of the spacecraft are built and integrated. The components of Orion's pressure vessel are joined using the friction-stir welding process, which bonds the pieces by transforming metals from a solid into a plastic-like state and then forging a bond between the two metal components. Once all pressure vessel elements are welded together, the spacecraft will be sent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for outfitting, processing and launch.

Other than several small changes to allow for interfaces with crew equipment or mounting of hardware specific to EM-2, the overall structure, manufacturing process and mass of the pressure vessel is the same as it is for the structure that will fly on the first mission of Orion and SLS, now that engineers have optimized the design of Orion's structure. Engineers are making progress on the EM-1 spacecraft, currently being assembled at Kennedy ahead of its 2019 launch.

AMRO is a third generation, family owned, small business manufacturer that specializes in building metallic structures for spacecraft and launch vehicles. In addition to its work for Orion, AMRO makes elements of the Space Launch System core stage and provided components for the space shuttle. This past February, AMRO successfully graduated from the NASA Mentor-Protégé Program – a program through the Office of Small Business Programs which encourages NASA prime contractors to assist eligible protégés, thereby enhancing the protégés' capabilities to perform on NASA contracts and subcontracts.

"I speak for everyone in the NASA Office of Small Business Programs when I express how proud we are of the tremendous contributions the AMRO Fabricating Corporation is making to the NASA mission," said Glenn Delgado, associate administrator of the Office of Small Business Programs in Washington. "Their growth and achievements are a shining example of what can be accomplished by our protégés. We look forward to AMRO's continued success."

Exploration Mission-2 will be NASA's first mission with crew in a series of missions in the proving ground, an area of space around the moon wh ere crew can build and test systems needed to prepare for the challenge of missions to Mars. The mission will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early 2020s.
 
Rachel Kraft
NASA Johnson Space Center

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Last Updated: Aug. 10, 2017
Editor: Mark Garcia

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Airbus Space‏Подлинная учетная запись @AirbusSpace 18 авг.

1st successful test for @NASA_Orion's propulsion module. Hot firing test starts campaign at @NASA White Sands. Info: http://bit.ly/2fPYVw8 

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https://orionesm.airbusdefenceandspace.com/blog/orion-propulsion-test/

First successful test for Orion's propulsion system

17 August 2017

Hot firing test mark the start of the Orion test campaign at NASA White Sands

The Propulsion Qualification Module (PQM) is a test module for Orion's mission critical propulsion system. Currently Airbus, ESA and NASA engineers run a test campaign  at the NASA test facility in White Sands (US, New Mexico). Although the PQM and its four propellant tanks will never see space, this is an important step in the development of the Orion programme. Complex systems must

first be tested and qualified on Earth before being used as flight hardware in space. The challenge in manufacturing the test tanks was therefore to satisfy the numerous technical specifications, such as cleanliness, fuel compatibility and watertightness, that will also apply to the real propulsion system.

It is an important milestone, a huge success for the whole team and it perfectly demonstrates our engineering competence. My congratulations to the team but let's not forget that we still have more tests to come.

Bas Theelen, Orion Programme Manager, Airbus

 

At right: OMS-E - Second firing test

The flight model will have 33 engines to provide thrust and to manoeuvre the spacecraft on all axes. The test module is equipped with less engines, among them a re-used engine which last flight occurred in 2011 with Space Shuttle Atlantis (OMS–E: Orbital Manoeuvre System Engine). "I am delighted to see these first successful hot firings" says Bas Theelen, Orion Programme Manager at Airbus Space Systems.The test campaign is expected to be terminated at the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018.

published on Thursday, August 17

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/power-up-system-tests-prepare-orion-for-deep-space-exploration

Aug. 18, 2017

Power Up! System Tests Prepare Orion for Deep Space Exploration

By Staff Writers
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

Hurtling beyond the Moon at a speedy 25,000 mph for a three-week mission requires a space processor capable of operating with guaranteed reliability, in a high radiation environment tens of thousands of miles in deep space, at 480,000,000 instructions per second to execute thousands of commands and sequences for controlling the hundreds of spacecraft systems and components to ensure crew safety and mission success.

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The Orion crew module for NASA's Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) is secured in a work station in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft is being prepared for its first integrated flight atop the Space Launch System rocket on Exploration Mission-1. Photo credit: NASA/Leif Heimbold

To ensure everything performs as planned, the Orion spacecraft destined for Exploration Mission-1 was successfully powered up for the first time this week in Orion's spacecraft factory, the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"The initial power-on procedure verified the health and status of Orion's core computers and power and data units and marks the beginning of critical spacecraft subsystem tests to get us ready for flight," said Mark Kirasich, NASA Orion program manager. "Our test team, ground support equipment and flight systems all performed remarkably well during the test. This is a major milestone for Orion and for our long range deep space exploration plans."

During the initial power-on tests, engineers and technicians connected the vehicle management computers to Orion's power and data units to ensure the systems communicate precisely with one another to accurately route power and functional commands throughout the spacecraft for the duration of a deep-space exploration mission. In spaceflight, Orion will generate power through its four solar array wings which collectively hold about 15,000 solar cells that can harness enough electricity to power eight three-bedroom homes. The power and data units then distribute that power as needed throughout the spacecraft.

"The spacecraft's power and data units and core computers will continue to undergo additional testing of various components over the next two to three months," said Rafael Garcia, NASA Orion program test and verification lead at Kennedy.

Orion will launch atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket for an uncrewed mission traveling 40,000 miles beyond the Moon and returning to Earth with a Pacific Ocean splashdown. The mission will demonstrate the integrated system performance of the rocket, Orion spacecraft and ground support teams prior to the first flight with astronauts on board.

Last Updated: Aug. 18, 2017
Editor: Linda Herridge

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 56 сек. назад

ARTICLE: Orion ESM begins hot fire testing at White Sands - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/08/orion-esm-testing-white-sands/ ... - by Philip Sloss

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Orion ESM begins hot fire testing at White Sands

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Lockheed Martin‏Подлинная учетная запись @LockheedMartin 10 ч. назад

Our engineers powered up @NASA_Orion EM-1 for the first time to test the vehicle's "brain and heart." Learn more: http://lmt.co/2xpfqmq

http://news.lockheedmartin.com/2017-08-22-Lockheed-Martin-Powers-up-Next-Orion-Spacecraft-for-First-Time

Lockheed Martin Powers-up Next Orion Spacecraft for First Time

Brain and Heart Brought to Life on NASA's Deep Space Exploration Ship

DENVER, Aug. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Engineers at Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and NASA breathed life into the next Orion crew module when they powered up the spacecraft for the first time at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Designed for human spaceflight, this Orion will be the first to fly more than 40,000 miles beyond the Moon during its nearly three-week Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), a feat that hasn't been possible before.

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"Orion was designed from the beginning to take humanity farther into space than we've ever gone, and to do this, its systems have to be very robust and reliable," said Mike Hawes, vice president and Orion program manager at Lockheed Martin. "Over the last year, we've built great momentum in assembling the crew module for EM-1. Everyone on the team understands how crucial this test campaign is, and more importantly, what this spacecraft and mission means to our country and future human space flight."
The initial power-on event was the first time the vehicle management computers and the power and data units were installed on the crew module, loaded with flight software and tested. Evaluating these core systems, thought of as the "brain and heart" of the Orion capsule, is the first step in testing all of the crew module subsystems.

Powering-on and testing the computers for the first time marks a major milestone in Orion's march toward its EM-1 flight.

"Orion was designed from the beginning to take humanity farther into space than we've ever gone, and to do this, its systems have to be very robust and reliable."

Although astronauts will not fly in this capsule on this flight, a large majority of the subsystems and avionics are the same design that astronauts will rely on during following missions with Orion into the solar system. Launching on NASA's Space Launch System—the most powerful rocket in the world—the EM-1 flight is critical to confirming the Orion spacecraft and all of its interdependent systems operate as designed in the unforgiving environment of deep space.

With the successful initial power on behind them, engineers and technicians will now continue integrating the 55 components that make up the spacecraft avionics suite, connecting them with nearly 400 harnesses. Over the course of the next two to three months, as each system is installed, they will perform thorough functional tests to ensure Orion is ready to move to the all-important environmental testing phase.

NASA's Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle is the world's first human-rated spacecraft designed for long-duration, deep space exploration. Orion will transport humans to interplanetary destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including the Moon and eventually Mars. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for Orion, and is responsible for the design, build, testing, launch processing and mission operations of the spacecraft. Orion is managed out of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/orion-update-lighting-fire-awareness-part-1/

Orion update: Lighting the fire of awareness – Part 1

by Jason Rhian
August 21st, 2017


Artist's rendition of Orion Exploration Flight Test 1. Image Credit: NASA

Officials with NASA sat down with SpaceFlight Insider to discuss the current status of the Orion Program, which evolved into discussions on how the space agency is working to spread the word about the new crew-rated capsule as well as the ties that the program has with past efforts—and more.

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SpaceFlight Insider first spoke with NASA's Orion Program Manager, Mark Kirasich, who was in New York City in conjunction with the Intrepid Museum's Space & Science Festival. Kirasich spoke at length about the spacecraft, the speeches given at venues, and what the future holds for NASA's crewed spacecraft.


NASA's new Orion Program Manager Mark Kirasich began his NASA career in 1983 at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston as a member of the Space Shuttle flight operations team. Photo & Caption Credit: NASA

SFI: Can you start by telling us a bit about where you are at today—and why you're there?

Mark Kirasich: "We're here as part of an Intrepid space and science special event this week, so it's going to be a lot of fun to meet people and talk about NASA's plans."

SFI: So, obviously, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and [the Space Shuttle] Enterprise is all very cool, but I want to pick your brain about something that is more recent—Orion.

Mark Kirasich: "Wow, you and me both! I'm ready!"

SFI: Provide our readers with just a brief update as to where Orion stands in terms of EM-1, EM-2. Where are we at this present stage?

Mark Kirasich: "All right, great. Mind if I just take a step back and tell you where we've been, then where we're going?"

SFI: That sounds perfect.

Mark Kirasich: "Two test flights are behind us and two are in front of us. We flew our first test, our abort system, in May of 2010 fr om the White Sands Test Facility, and it was incredibly successful. Then we flew Exploration Flight Test One [EFT-1], which was our first overall flight test in December of 2014, and it went amazingly well. Since that time, we've been focused on our next two flights: Exploration Mission One, in which Orion will fly for the first time on the Space Launch System, which is our country's new heavy-lift launch system and it's being put together by Marshall Space Flight Center and their prime contractor Boeing.

"That will be the first time an Orion capsule flies on SLS and also goes beyond Earth orbit. So we're very excited about that. That's going to be a lunar-orbital mission. And then the flight after that—actually I'm going to tell you how we're going to accelerate it—is Ascent Abort 2. It's the second test of our abort system, where we're going to actually launch the capsule and the abort system on a booster rocket that will simulate SLS and will test an in-flight abort.

"So those two flights are upcoming. After we have that, we'll be ready for our first human launch, Exploration Mission Two, also on SLS. And that'll be the first time humans travel beyond Earth orbit since the last Apollo mission. That's my roadmap. Right now we are in the thick – you would not believe how much hardware we have in the pipes. I say across the country, I really need to say around the world because we have [] European partner—the European Space Agency and Airbus."

SFI: Can you get our viewers up-to-speed about the latest in terms of Orion and NASA's Exploration Mission 1?

Mark Kirasich: "Sure. The Exploration Mission 1 Crew Module is in the Kennedy Space Center O&C [Operations and Checkout] building, where our Lockheed Martin Orion final assembly building is and it is going really well. I don't know if you've seen a picture lately, but it's beautiful. All of the plumbing is installed, all of the propellant systems, the ECLSS systems, power, secondary structure. We are today installing the avionics boxes. A slew of them have arrived in the last week or two, and we are heading for a first power-up later this month. It will be the first time we're going to power up the Exploration Mission 1 spacecraft, so it's doing great.

"The other we're building in the O&C Building is the called the Crew Module Adapter. It's what goes on top of the ESA Service Module, and then we put the Crew Module on top of that. It's coming together, it's doing well.

"Traveling to Bremen, Germany. I believe you know about our ESA partners. The ESA Service Module is being assembled by Airbus in their factory in Bremen, Germany, and it is coming along well. It's a beautiful piece of flight hardware. They're working some suppliers, some supplier challenges, getting some of their components delivered. So they're working through that.

"So we've got all of the EM-1 hardware coming together: the launch abort system [LAS]; the jettison motor will be poured here in a month or two. The abort—it's an inert motor on EM-1. It is nearly fully assembled, so it's coming together well. On top of that, we have our structural test article—which right now has a service module, a crew module, and a LAS—are all being structurally tested. Pushed and pulled and shaken and exposed to acoustic loads. And then, in about a month, we put together the integrated stack, to stack those things together, and that's in Denver. We have a parachute drop test in the desert. We are doing recovery tests with help fr om the Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico. So everywhere you look, every day there's something going on with Orion. There's a lot of activity going on."


The Orion crew module for NASA's Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) is secured in a workstation in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft is being prepared for its first integrated flight atop the Space Launch System rocket on Exploration Mission-1. Photo & Caption Credit: Leif Heimbold / NASA

SFI: There was a rash of stories about "NASA doesn't have the money to send astronauts to Mars, so...". The question I have there is, is that an accurate assessment and, more importantly, if it is, then what other side missions—and I'm a Moon-first person myself—is that the sort of thing you're looking at? How will Orion be used for its first missions?

Mark Kirasich: "I'm not sure I'm smart enough to answer your specific question about Mars. I'm really focused on the near-term horizon, which is the path to get to Mars, and we just this past year announced a really good plan that involves some cislunar operations as a way to prepare humans to travel to Mars for the first time. Orion and SLS are key elements of that. We have the money—we have the funding we need. We have the support in Congress and we're really pleased by the new President's enthusiasm for space exploration.

"At the funding levels we're getting, Orion, SLS, the Ground Ops pieces—all of the elements of the current architecture—can support their parts in this business and this new capability where we travel to cislunar space first, and we'll learn in lunar orbit how to live and work in a way wh ere we're really not close to the Earth. We cannot be Earth-dependent, so we'll build up capabilities there, we'll stay there for longer and longer periods of time, and we'll develop the technologies we need: the environment control, the regenerative way of environmental control, the propulsion capabilities, the ion engines, that are part of the cislunar plan. All of those pieces are coming together now.

"Our boss, Bill Gerstenmaier in Human Exploration, is putting together this architecture. Right now, I can tell you with the funding we have, we can do our piece of that. Right now that's my horizon, through the late 2020s, to make sure we can demonstrate cislunar missions."

SFI: Okay. We're curious if NASA is looking at a "Moon, Mars, and beyond" kind of philosophy here...

Mark Kirasich: "Yes."

SFI: ...which a lot of us old-time space people are saying, "Orion is really good, and SLS is great for developing a highway out into the Solar System. You start nearby and you eventually go further and further." Do you see Orion being used for more and more of that, or are we more Journey-to-Mars-centric?

Mark Kirasich: "Let me make sure I get all your points. From day one we've tried to make Orion as flexible and capable as possible. We've worked really hard to get mass out, to get weight out [...]. Generally what we've seen—and you know over the past few years we've had a variety of different missions—no matter what the mission, Orion has always been able to fill that mission. What I would call a flexible path first to Moon and then to Mars—Orion absolutely fits into that picture, Orion can support and perform all of those missions.

"The avionics and the equipment, the redundancy in the systems, when we do our probabilistic risk analysis, it shows that these systems can reliably [operate] for very long periods of time. Our systems are regenerative. And then the performance capability—the propellant, wh ere we can go, the orbits we can go into—now clearly we couldn't go to Mars by ourselves, there will be additional elements of the architecture. But Orion can and, I envision, will be part of these missions first in cislunar and then as we push farther to Mars."


The European Service Module that will power NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon and beyond is taking shape in the assembly hall at Airbus Defence and Space, Bremen, Germany. The spacecraft module will provide propulsion, electricity, water, oxygen and nitrogen, and thermal control. Photo & Caption Credit: Airbus DS / ESA

SFI: Okay, I've got an easier question for you. ESA's already contributing the Service Module for EM-1, and a lot of us in the community look at this as: "It has to be a partnership. It can't be a unilateral effort." So can we expect to see these missions to the Moon and Mars; instead of it being NASA—you know, you plant the flags and you're on your way—it's more of a NASA-ESA-Canadian-and-other-space-agency initiative?

Mark Kirasich: "Yeah, I think Bill Gerstenmaier, who's assembling this, believes that to do these very challenging missions, we do need international collaboration. That's why, in 2013, we forged the very first international partnership in the new exploration program with the European Space Agency. They're part of Orion, and they're not just any old part, they are a really critical part.

"They built something we call the ESA Service Module, and it has some really key functions in it. It has all of the propellant for our translation maneuvers; it includes the solar arrays and power generation equipment, so all of the electrical power generation on orbit is done from there. And the cooling system, the radiators on the Service Module are a really critical piece, and we put them in a really integral, critical-path role in Orion and exploration. And from the start, the intent was to expand the collaboration to the future elements, beyond Orion, beyond SLS, beyond the Ground Systems; the elements that we'll need to put in lunar orbit, the elements that we'll need for Mars."

SFI: Okay, so you're on the deck there [on Intrepid], you're probably going to be seeing Enterprise later today. In closing, tell us a little bit about your feelings on the deck there, and how we had this one great program we retired a few years ago and now we're on to the new big thing. One of the questions we always close with is: If you had to relay the most salient, important point to the general public, what would be about Orion and SLS?

Mark Kirasich: "When I walk around the decks here, the reason I'm with NASA today is [that] when I was a kid, in 1969, I watched when Neil and Buzz stepped foot on the Moon for the first time. And then I watched the military airplanes because they were really pushing the state of the art, and that's what motivated me. It motivated me to want to get interested in technology, science, and engineering, and come in and do these really bold things. And when I walked through Intrepid today, many of these aircraft, even many of these submarines that I watched as a kid, I found here today.

"That's what motivated me to do what I did, and I believe our generation of scientists and engineers—whether you're in the aerospace industry or the computer world or the biomedical industry—they're pushing the state of the art. What our country's done over our generation has an amazing [role] in taking our country forward—and I think that's what especially the Apollo program did for me—I believe that's what SLS and Orion are going to do for the next generation, especially the young.

"People are going to be extremely excited about these missions. And it's going to motivate people to get into the science and math and engineering, and they may or may not come into the space program. They may become doctors, they'll become gene slicers, but they'll be the ones who take what we're living and push it forward. I'm really convinced of that. You mentioned you were at EFT-1. That day in December 2014—I don't know about you, but for me it was magical. It was like unbelievable for me and it felt—I might be exaggerating—but for a few minutes it felt like the whole world stopped and watched what we did. And boy, if you think that was exciting for that short-duration flight, just wait 'til you see what happens when we lift off on the Space Launch System for the first time."

SFI then spoke with NASA astronaut Lee Morin about the significant outreach efforts that are required to not only keep those involved with the various human space flight efforts involved but also to keep them inspired as well. Tune in to SpaceFlight Insider tomorrow for Morin's views on this subject.

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//www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/orion-update-lighting-fire-awareness-part-2/

Orion update: Lighting the fire of awareness – Part 2

by Jason Rhian
August 22nd, 2017


NASA has deployed its officials, including the agency's astronauts, to help inspire those who are working to produce the rockets and spacecraft that are designed to propel crews further into space than has ever been attempted before. Image Credit: NASA

SpaceFlight Insider continues its update of recent developments with NASA's Orion spacecraft; more specifically, public outreach efforts that the U.S. space agency is undertaking to prepare the nation for its return to exploring deep space—an undertaking it has not attempted since the historic Apollo 17 mission, which concluded in December 1972. During a recent event held at the AMRO Fabricating Facility in South El Monte, California, NASA astronaut Lee Morin had a chance to review progress being made—and to thank those who are working on these flight systems.

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When it comes to inspiring people about the U.S.' efforts to explore the deep reaches of the Solar System, few people can inspire like an astronaut. SpaceFlight Insider spoke with NASA astronaut Lee Morin about what the space agency had him doing to provide not just an understanding of space but also an excitement for what awaits.


Official NASA astronaut portrait of Lee Morin (Aug. 30, 2010). Photo Credit: Robert Markowitz / NASA

SFI: For starters, you're at an event at the AMRO facilities right now, correct?

Morin: "Yes."

SFI: How are you using this event to inform the public or maybe just the space community about NASA's new crew-rated spacecraft, Orion?

Morin: "We have a whole system of subcontractors, suppliers, and subcontractor supplier management at NASA, as you may know. And we have small businesses, suppliers, all over the country. And so as they are delivering our hardware, we generally have people that, you know, come and visit them. We take these opportunities to come and thank the team for their hard work, their craftsmanship, and we invite the media out and the local congressionals, mayors, the city people in El Monte; we're here in South El Monte. It's a way to shine a light on the businesses doing this great work. It helps the employees. They have a sense of pride, I think, and they're very proud to work on this program. So it's a strategy we use to thank all the people that are helping us get to deep space."

SFI: So let's talk a bit about that, then. What's been the reaction of some of the people that you've met there today, Lee, in terms of meeting you and their work on Orion? How are they responding to being able to be involved with NASA's new crew-rated spacecraft?

Morin: "Everyone here's been very excited. You can see their faces light up. The fact that they get to go out and talk to an astronaut and have their picture taken in front of the hardware they've built that one of my colleagues will be flying out beyond the Moon is very exciting. By my coming, it sort of puts a face on it for them in terms of their ultimate customer, and people that betting their lives on their handiwork and craftsmanship.

"I personally have an interest in machining. I was an amateur machinist, so I was treated to sort of a behind-the-scenes look and getting to look at some of the machines and talk to some of the people on the line that operate those machines. So for me, that was an exciting trip. But I know that having someone fr om NASA come out and have an interest in their contribution and what they're doing means a lot to them as well."

SFI: As much as you're inspiring the folks, I remember that Gus Grissom did a tour back in the Apollo days, and Gus was known for being a competent engineer, but not much of a spokesman. And he basically looked at the engineers and said, "Do good work." What have they taught you? I know that any time you interact with folks, it's always a two-way street. They get to be inspired by seeing the people who are going to fly on these exciting new spacecraft, but what have you personally taken away fr om this experience today?

Morin: "Well, I always get invigorated talking to the public, whether that's at a school or at a plant like this. I can just see the enthusiasm of the people. In their day-to-day lives they're doing their jobs, but what they're doing in the case here is something that culminates in an important milestone for the country. I think [Barbara Zelon] and her team do a great job conveying that to them: that their role is very important. And traditionally that outreach has been very important because that helps keep the quality up.

"If you have that human face on the parts, it really motivates the entire team to, as Gus said, 'Do good work.' But it puts a personal face on it and it makes it a lot more real to them in terms of what their role is. Of course, the part that they're building today, which is this window panel, this very recognizable panel to many people because it's the contour of the windows that you can see fr om the outside so it's a very, very visible part. Of course, they're building a lot of other parts, which are less visible but are just as important."

SFI: So you saw where the window's being worked on. Could you tell us about some of the other elements that you got a chance to review today?

Morin: "This company's specialty is making very large, very complicated aluminum panels, which are these curved sections. And it starts out with a big slab of metal, in some cases, it's as much as six inches thick. Some of the panels they showed us today weighed as much as seven tons—you know, these big pieces of metal—and this company has this process wh ere they remove a lot of that metal.

"In other words, you might end up starting with [a] 5,000-pound piece of aluminum, and after you've removed all of the metal, when you're done, the part might only weigh 300 pounds. So it's a very subtractive process. What they do is they both remove metal, but then they also have to shape it and bend it in a very precise way back and forth, so it's real craftsmanship, a real art form to be able to do that. And this company actually does it better than anybody else. And these panels are very important.

"In addition to this panel that is the structural member that holds the windows, so it has the cavities wh ere the windows will be mounted, they also have panels for the tanks of the Space Launch System booster, which will be the largest rocket ever built. That's the tanks that hold the liquid hydrogen.

"Very similar process: they start with a large slab of aluminum, mill rectangular depressions in it so that they remove most of the weight but keep a lot of the strength, then they roll that into a section and then a number of those are welded together down in New Orleans—they actually finish the tank. So that's basically what we saw, basically aluminum plates that were very intricately machined and shaped to these conical and cylindrical sections that are later joined to form spacecraft."

SFI: You've obviously had a lot of experience seeing a lot of this hardware produced. Could you provide our readers with some of the differences that you've noticed when you're looking at Orion compared to the stuff you saw produced for Shuttle and other programs?

Morin: "One of the things that's important to realize is Orion has been a very evolutionary process in terms of the production of the components. The particular piece that we were looking at [had] originally consisted of 37 separate parts. The initial prototypes were built in that way. By building those prototypes and studying them, they found out how not only to remove thousands of pounds of metal (so it went from 4,000 to 2,000 pounds), they also went from 37 separate pieces to, I believe, it's six pieces.

"So now those six pieces can be welded together. And the process they did here with these parts [makes it] so that they're much closer to final assembly, whereas the earlier parts—the companies here would make the parts and that part would require a lot more finishing or coatings and so forth would have to be done later.


The panel of Orion's underlying structure for Exploration Mission-2 containing the spacecraft's windows is manufactured by AMRO Fabricating Corp., in South El Monte, California. Photo & Caption Credit: NASA

"Lockheed's worked with its suppliers to optimize the part in terms of complexity and manufacturability and optimize the part to have more of the process done further up the supply chain, and very importantly, to minimize the weight. So the part does the same job, but it takes only half as much weight, which is so important when you're talking about these deep-space missions because the energy to get something to the Moon and back [makes weight] critical. If you can save some weight, you really got a lot of leverage out of that.

"It's an incremental use of a lot of modern machining methods, which are very intensively computer-based, and lots of new materials, and lots of incremental improvements wh ere each little improvement doesn't seem like that big a deal in itself, but when you put dozens and hundreds of them together, it really adds up to a really significant advance in these components."

SFI: If there's one thing that your experiences today—checking out the work that's being done on Orion—has most intrigued you or the public should be made most aware of, what would it be?

Morin: "I think it was that the employees here presented me with a panel that they 3-D printed, which was a miniature (I think about 1:25 scale) model of the part that is on display in front of the auditorium here. The key point of that is that 3-D printing technology is infusing its way into every phase of manufacturing. Not that the panel itself is 3-D printed, but that more and more 3-D printing is being used as an aid to improve the design or to check parts for fit before you commit to a very costly part. Of course, we're using 3-D printing a lot ourselves.

"My role is building the cockpit of Orion. We do 3-D printing because we make working models of the display system that the crews interact with. We built a lot of those prototypes with 3-D printing. This is a company that machines metal, and they are using 3-D printing in a big way, and the employees presented this panel to me today, which is a great memento."

SFI: Lee, thank you for taking the time to speak with Spaceflight Insider today.

Morin: "It was fun, thanks!"

Morin spoke with the teams at AMRO Fabricating Corporation located in South El Monte, California. While there, he had the opportunity to review finished structural test article hardware panels. These had been arranged in order for each section of NASA's new super-heavy-lift rocket—the Space Launch System, or, as it is more commonly called, "SLS". The SLS is the chosen launch vehicle that the space agency hopes will restore American independence of launching its astronauts into space when used in tandem with the Orion spacecraft, which is being produced by Lockheed Martin and Airbus.

As is the case with any major initiative, a number of companies and agencies have been tasked with the production of both the SLS and Orion. One of these partners is AMRO, which is helping to build panels for SLS' core stage, the rocket's launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) and the Orion spacecraft.

Companies and agencies are made up of people, and people are aided in their efforts when they are inspired. NASA astronauts, perhaps better than any other agency official, help to get the word out to those manufacturing these vehicles as to how important their work is, considering that these astronauts are planning on one day using what those firms produce to get NASA back into the business of crewed space exploration.

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Mark Kirasich‏ @MarkKirasich 15 ч. назад

Today's exercise evaluates Orion's two hatches, crew module and launch abort system, which work together to provide quick access to crew.

[Чебурашка]

Гы... люк наружу открывается?

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Orbital ATK‏Подлинная учетная запись @OrbitalATK 1 ч назад

We are excited to announce that analysis from June's qualification test of @NASA_Orion launch abort motor shows positive results

[тавот]

Чебурашка пишет:
Гы... люк наружу открывается?

После пожара Аполлона-1 у американцев все люки открываются наружу.

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Mark Kirasich‏ @MarkKirasich 17 ч. назад

.@LockheedMartin team in Denver, Colorado is testing the structure of @NASA_Orion's @esa service module

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Orion's August newsletter:

orion_monthly_newsletter_08-2017.pdf - 3034127 B, 9 стр, 2017-09-13 16:14:32 UTC

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Orion Spacecraft‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Orion 58 мин. назад

Test success! Orion's 3 main parachutes help a mock capsule descend after free fall during high pressure evaluation. https://go.nasa.gov/2y9dnnI

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/orion-parachutes-measure-up-in-high-pressure-test

Sept. 14, 2017

Orion Parachutes Measure Up in High Pressure Test


 
Orion's three main orange and white parachutes help a representative model of the spacecraft descend through sky above Arizona, where NASA engineers tested the parachute system on Sept. 13, 2017, at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma. NASA is qualifying Orion's parachutes for missions with astronauts.

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During this test, engineers replicated a situation in which Orion must abort off the Space Launch System rocket and bypass part of its normal parachute deployment sequence that typically helps the spacecraft slow down during its descent to Earth after deep space missions. The capsule was dropped out of a C-17 aircraft at more than 4.7 miles in altitude and allowed to free fall for 20 seconds, longer than ever before, to produce high aerodynamic pressure before only its pilot and main parachutes were deployed, testing whether they could perform as expected under extreme loads. Orion's full parachute system includes 11 total parachutes -- three forward bay cover parachutes and two drogue parachutes, along with three pilot parachutes that help pull out the spacecraft's three mains.

Image Credit: NASA/James Blair

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Last Updated: Sept. 14, 2017
Editor: Sarah Loff

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 ч. назад

ARTICLE: Piecing together NASA's crewed Deep Space spacecraft - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/09/piecing-together-nasas-crew-spacecraft/ ... - by Philip Sloss

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Piecing together NASA's crewed Deep Space spacecraft