Space Launch System - Orion

[MartG]

orbit insertion burn completed

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Not a mention of it on the news this evening

Don't expect the mainstream media to pay any attention to it unless it goes seriously wrong. You need to make an effort to follow these types of missions these days. The good news is that there are plenty of resources available out there where you can keep up to date as to what is happening.

[McGee_22]

Orion almost at it's apogee - c268,000 miles from earth

[generationx]

More great images from Artemis

[SpudLink]

Crescent Earth, seen following another Luna flyby.

[Talksteer]

Why there are massive gaps between flights, saving pennies costs pounds.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/12/artemis-i-...

[Eric Mc]

There are many, many reasons why Artemis will not give us a manned lunar landing before 2030.

[Leithen]

Forgive my ignorance, but how does it cost $1 Billion (trying hard not to use Dr Evil voice) to build a launch tower? I presume that it includes the base structure, ancillaries etc, but a billion?

[RizzoTheRat]

Presumably at least in part because they awarded a cost plus contract to the cheapest bidder before they even had a spec for what they wanted it to do.

[Eric Mc]

Leithen said:

Forgive my ignorance, but how does it cost $1 Billion (trying hard not to use Dr Evil voice) to build a launch tower? I presume that it includes the base structure, ancillaries etc, but a billion?

Because specs keep changing resulting in delays, redesigns etc. The funding has always been the problem - being intermittent and uncertain.

[Beati Dogu]

The tower was originally built for the previous rocket programme, Ares. Then that got cancelled and the tower was adapted to SLS at further great cost.

[Turtle Shed]

9,000 miles from earth and coming in at 13,500 mph right now.

[Eric Mc]

Watching now. NASA just took down their telemetry based animation screen for some reason.

[MartG]

Down

[Simpo Two]

So, it's splashed down safely, which is great. It's orbited the moon and come back safely to Earth.

Which is what Apollo 8 did in 1968, 54 years ago. Excuse my ignorance but what extra meaningful scientific hurdles has Orion cleared, other than (one day) having an extra astronaut?

[Leithen]

Simpo Two said:

So, it's splashed down safely, which is great. It's orbited the moon and come back safely to Earth.

Which is what Apollo 8 did in 1968, 54 years ago. Excuse my ignorance but what extra meaningful scientific hurdles has Orion cleared, other than (one day) having an extra astronaut?

Orion is facing the same exceptionally difficult hurdles that Apollo faced. Modern technology ought to make it easier, but the hurdles are still exceptional.

The history of the South Pole offers a comparison. First reached in 1911 and 1912. IIRC it wasn’t until the 1950’s that is was visited again and then subsequently a permanent base built there. Despite modern tech, it’s a difficult place to reach and exist at.

[Simpo Two]

Leithen said:

The history of the South Pole offers a comparison. First reached in 1911 and 1912. IIRC it wasn’t until the 1950’s that is was visited again and then subsequently a permanent base built there. Despite modern tech, it’s a difficult place to reach and exist at.

Good analogy. Getting there for a day trip is one thing, living there is another. Unfortunately progress went sideways for decades not forwards. It's interesting to reflect where we might be now had the momentum of the Apollo programme been maintained.

[Flooble]

Simpo Two said:

Good analogy. Getting there for a day trip is one thing, living there is another. Unfortunately progress went sideways for decades not forwards. It's interesting to reflect where we might be now had the momentum of the Apollo programme been maintained.

Jamestown colony in the 70s, fusion power by the late 80s and a mission to the Mars in the 90s, apparently :-)

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

So, it's splashed down safely, which is great. It's orbited the moon and come back safely to Earth.

Which is what Apollo 8 did in 1968, 54 years ago. Excuse my ignorance but what extra meaningful scientific hurdles has Orion cleared, other than (one day) having an extra astronaut?

It was not specifically a scientific mission. It was an engineering test flight to ensure the basic elements of the system worked - which it appears to have achieved. Some small scientific tests were tacked on as a "bonus" so as not to waste the opportunity but they are not the purpose of the mission.

If you are going to talk about earlier around the moon and return to earth missions, Apollo 8 wasn't the first either.

[Robmarriott]

Doing something dangerous in the 2020s is a lot different to doing something dangerous in the 1960s. It’s not as easy as sticking someone in a caravan and attaching it to some fireworks now, the 1960s risk level would be deemed way too high these days.