(Editor's
Note -- As Aero-News reported,
astronaut Jeffrey Williams let the feline out of the paper
enclosure Tuesday when, while recording a message from the ISS
meant to be transmitted on August 31, he let slip on a "hot"
space-ground radio link the name of NASA's new spacecraft -- Orion,
named for one of the brightest constellations in the sky.
Word got around fast -- and NASA, faced with the news being
made public 10 days before it was supposed to be, had to scramble
quickly. Below is the agency's news release on the decision...
which definitely has a sense of "we meant for this to happen,
REALLY we did" to it.)
NASA announced Tuesday that its new crew exploration vehicle
will be named Orion.
Orion is the vehicle NASA’s Constellation Program is
developing to carry a new generation of explorers back to the moon
and later to Mars. Orion will succeed the space shuttle as NASA's
primary vehicle for human space exploration.
Orion's first flight with astronauts onboard is planned for no
later than 2014 to the International Space Station. Its first
flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020.
Orion is named for one of the brightest, most familiar and
easily identifiable constellations.
"Many of its stars have been used for navigation and guided
explorers to new worlds for centuries," said Orion Project Manager
Skip Hatfield. "Our team, and all of NASA - and, I believe, our
country - grows more excited with every step forward this program
takes. The future for space exploration is coming quickly."
In June, NASA announced the launch vehicles under development by
the Constellation Program have been named Ares, a synonym for Mars.
The booster that will launch Orion will be called Ares I, and a
larger heavy-lift launch vehicle will be known as Ares V.
Orion will be capable of transporting cargo and up to six crew
members to and from the International Space Station. It can carry
four crewmembers for lunar missions. Later, it can support crew
transfers for Mars missions.
Orion borrows its shape from space capsules of the past, but
takes advantage of the latest technology in computers, electronics,
life support, propulsion and heat protection systems. The capsule's
conical shape is the safest and most reliable for re-entering the
Earth’s atmosphere, especially at the velocities required for
a direct return from the moon.
Orion will be 16.5 feet in diameter and have a mass of about 25
tons. Inside, it will have more than 2.5 times the volume of an
Apollo capsule. The spacecraft will return humans to the moon to
stay for long periods as a testing ground for the longer journey to
Mars.
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, manages the Constellation
Program and the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville,
Ala., manages the Exploration Launch Projects' office for the
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Washington.