Orion Launch Today
Discussion
The post flight briefing and pres conference is on youtube now. Well worth listening to -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbgegMSQL0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbgegMSQL0
Halmyre said:
Eric Mc said:
Regarding the Apollo 1 fire, the astronauts would have died if the capsule had been fitted with the Block 2 style hatch too.
We can't know that. It wasn't the fire that killed them, it was asphyxiation; if (note: if) they'd got the hatch open faster (note: faster) they might (note: might) have had a chance.We know how long it took to open a Block 2 hatch because Block 2 hatches were opened during a number of Apollo flights. It was longer than 15 seconds.
Also, the speed of the combustion raised the pressure in the capsule so fast and so much that the pressure bulkhead below the couches burst causing the floor of the capsule to collapse and drop down onto the top of the Service Module below. All this took mere seconds. Before an astronaut could even have reached the door handle, which was above and behind their heads, the door handle was out of reach due to the floor collapsing.
They weren't killed by a slow door. They were killed by poor workmanship, poor quality control and a lack of respect for the danger of the environment in which they were placed by the mission planners.
Gandahar said:
Having a pure oxygen atmosphere plus dodgy wiring does sound rather an accident waiting to happen doesn't it in hindsight......
It wasn't the pure oxygen atmosphere on its own. It was the fact that they had it at about 15 psi during the test.American spacecraft continued to use pure oxygen right through to the last Apollo flight in 1975.
Agreed. I've not read a satisfactory description yet as to how EVAs from Orion will be carried out.
Another issue is the loo. The Shuttle, Skylab and the ISS all have proper zero-g loos. Is there room for one in Orion or is it back to the days of plastic bags?
And there will be mixed sex crews on Orion.
Another issue is the loo. The Shuttle, Skylab and the ISS all have proper zero-g loos. Is there room for one in Orion or is it back to the days of plastic bags?
And there will be mixed sex crews on Orion.
I am quite optimistic about these things. I do feel that we are now arriving at a point where the vast store of technical know-how that has built up over 57 years of sending men and machines into space and doing all sorts of things up there is now beginning to come together.
The good thing about Orion and SLS is that it has come together just at the time when some of the old hands from the Apollo era are gradually fading out. Indeed, already too many are no longer with us. Hopefully, sufficient knowledge and lore has been retained to allow what was learned between 1960 and 1975 to be properly assimilated into the Orion project. I am pretty sure that is the case.
The number of times Mark Geyer (Orion project manager) referred to Apollo during the press conferences was quite striking. And it was quite poignant when the Lockheed-Martin representative, Mike Hawe more or less said that, for the first time since getting involved in the space programme in 1980, he feels like he is working on a project that will have a genuine legacy for future generations.
And that speaks volumes for how these people view the Space Shuttle.
The good thing about Orion and SLS is that it has come together just at the time when some of the old hands from the Apollo era are gradually fading out. Indeed, already too many are no longer with us. Hopefully, sufficient knowledge and lore has been retained to allow what was learned between 1960 and 1975 to be properly assimilated into the Orion project. I am pretty sure that is the case.
The number of times Mark Geyer (Orion project manager) referred to Apollo during the press conferences was quite striking. And it was quite poignant when the Lockheed-Martin representative, Mike Hawe more or less said that, for the first time since getting involved in the space programme in 1980, he feels like he is working on a project that will have a genuine legacy for future generations.
And that speaks volumes for how these people view the Space Shuttle.
You can see that the holy grail is lift capability. Thn benchmark is the Saturn V. It could place 100 tons directly into earth orbit - or put 30 tons into orbit around the moon.
If you want to better what the Saturn V could do, you MUST have a thrust capability on lift off greater than 7.5 million pounds.
As a little aside, the solid fuelled rockets that power Orion's Launch Escape System develop 500,000 lbs of thrust (al be it for a very brief period of time).
A slight correction to Toaster's post - Orion has very little thrust at all as it is, in effect, just the space capsule as tested last week. I think he must have been referring to the thrust of the Space Launch System booster.
If you want to better what the Saturn V could do, you MUST have a thrust capability on lift off greater than 7.5 million pounds.
As a little aside, the solid fuelled rockets that power Orion's Launch Escape System develop 500,000 lbs of thrust (al be it for a very brief period of time).
A slight correction to Toaster's post - Orion has very little thrust at all as it is, in effect, just the space capsule as tested last week. I think he must have been referring to the thrust of the Space Launch System booster.
The SLS engine was tested earlier this week. It's a developed version of the Space Shuttle Main Engine.
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/13/nasa-kicks-of...
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/13/nasa-kicks-of...
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