For the
first time since the Apollo era, NASA is testing a new moonship in the
turbulent waves of the open ocean.
The
life-size mockup of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, NASA's
replacement for its retiring space shuttle fleet, is undergoing a series of
water landing trials this month in the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of
central Florida. They are the first ocean tests of a full-size NASA spacecraft since
the Apollo capsule's development in the 1960s.
During the
tests, teams of divers and engineers are practicing recovery
techniques to retrieve an Orion capsule after splashdown, as well as
testing how the spacecraft performs in open water. The sea trials are the first
in which recovery teams attempted to attach a flotation collar around the Orion
craft while it bobbed up in down with the ocean waves.
"They're looking
for different types of sea conditions so they can report back how the capsule
behaves," NASA spokesperson Amber Philman told SPACE.com from the agency's
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Philman said the tests,
which are based out of nearby Port Canaveral, are being performed about 20 miles (32 km) off the Florida
coast, with three more days' worth of trials still on tap.
The Orion
crew capsule is NASA's
planned replacement for its three aging space shuttles, which are due to
retire at the end of next year. Orion capsules are designed to launch
atop a new rocket, the Ares I, and ferry six astronauts to the
International Space Station or carry a four-person crew to the moon and back. The
18,000-pound (8,164-kg) capsule is about 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide and larger
than the older Apollo capsules.
Like Apollo
capsules, Orion vehicles are designed to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere behind
a protective heat shield and parachute
to a water splashdown. Earlier this month, NASA announced it will use an Avcoat
ablator material similar to that used during on Apollo for the Orion spacecraft.
NASA currently plans to launch the first operational Orion flight in 2015 and
is targeting the first manned moon shot by 2020.
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