The test flight of NASA’s Orion finally ends successfully in pacific.
Orion is an unmanned spacecraft sent for a test flight on Dec 5. Orion is the second spacecraft after Apollo in 1970 that has travelled beyond Earth’s lower orbit. The space probe has covered about 3600 miles in space, spent 4.5 hours, returned back to Earth and splashed in the Pacific where it was recovered by U.S Navy and then taken back to Kennedy Space Center finally.
Orion Program Manager, Mark Geier said that though the mission was a success but it is still just the beginning. Scientists will now observe multiple events that Orion’s been through in its journey.
Although Geier considers the spacecraft capable but still investigations must continue to enhance th performance in this and the other upcoming spacecraft.
Bill Hill, Deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development said in a statement that the test flight was designed to test Orion’s limits.
Keeping the standard up is really important for NASA as the main objective is to design a capsule to take astronauts for the far planets like Mars.
The space agency reported that the parachutes and the protection shield performed well It is comprised of a layer that is specially designed to absorb heat while the capsule enters Earth’s Atmosphere.
NASA is hopeful that success in projects like this would certainly lead to a day when Astronauts can easily be taken to far planets like Mars etc.
NASA has also provided live coverage during the Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) mission on internet.
