Sunday, December 7, 2014

(Post-)EFT-1 Update: Orion's Recovery Effort...

The Orion EFT-1 spacecraft is secured inside the well deck of the USS Anchorage hours after the capsule safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, on December 5, 2014.
NASA

Two days after successfully soaring into space aboard Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1, Orion is on the verge of arriving at the U.S. mainland after safely being recovered from its splashdown zone in the Pacific Ocean. The USS Anchorage, with NASA's newest human-rated spacecraft onboard, is set to arrive at Naval Base San Diego tomorrow. From there, Orion will be transported via roadside back to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida...where all of the sensors and cargo placed inside the capsule will be removed and processed. The Orion EFT-1 vehicle will be reused for the Ascent Abort 2 test in 2018...the same year that another Orion will fly aboard the Space Launch System during its maiden flight from KSC's Launch Complex 39B. That Orion, which will make an unmanned flyby of the Moon on Exploration Mission 1, will harbor the changes made to it in response to all of the data that Lockheed Martin (the prime contractor for Orion) obtained from last Friday's flawless demonstration. Stay tuned.

With the USS Anchorage waiting in the distance, a U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter flies over the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft to assess its condition after the capsule safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean...on December 5, 2014.
NASA

U.S. Navy recovery teams begin securing the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft in preparation for it being towed back to the USS Anchorage, on December 5, 2014.
NASA

The USS Anchorage approaches the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft in preparation for the capsule being towed back to the ship for securing aboard the vessel, on December 5, 2014.
NASA

U.S. Navy recovery team members watch as the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft is towed into the USS Anchorage's well deck, on December 5, 2014.
NASA

The Orion EFT-1 spacecraft is secured inside the well deck of the USS Anchorage hours after the capsule safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, on December 5, 2014.
NASA
Posted by Richard Par at 3:49 PM
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