8/10/2019 NASA Test Launches Its New Orion Spacecraft - [VOA - Voice of America English News]

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hat it looked like from the Orion spacecraft atop a

ited Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket as it

mbs to orbit during the first test flight Friday Dec. 5,

14. (NASA photo)

/05/2014

NASA Test Launches Its New Orion Spacecraft

ASA Test Launches Its New Orionpacecraft

e United States space agency has successfully tested a new spacecraft that one day could carry astronauts to

ars and beyond.

e National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, launched the Orion spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air

orce Station in Florida. Less than five hours later, Orion landed in the Pacific Ocean near Baja California. The

acecraft had completed two orbits before returning to Earth. NASA called the test nearly flawless, or withoutstakes.

e test took Orion about 14 times farther from our planet than the International Space Station.

ASA scientists used the flight to test the launch, control and reentry systems of the new exploration vehicle. NASA

ientists were especially interested in how the spaceships heat shield would perform as it faced temperatures of

200 degrees Celsius during reentry.

ecent spaceflight incidents raise concerns

e test of the Orion spacecraft comes after two setbacks in space exploration. Recent accidents have shown how

ficult and dangerous space travel can be. In late October, an unmanned, privately-owned rocket exploded as it left

ASAs launch center on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Antares rocket was to carry tons of supplies to the International

pace Station. The explosion has raised questions about the engine design used by Orbital Sciences Corporation,

e company that built the Antares rocket. The incident is still under investigation.

ays later, a problem during the test flight of a manned spaceship resulted in a deadly crash in California. One pilot

Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo was killed and the other was seriously injured. Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight

mpany. It plans to develop a space tourism industry by taking people into space for a fee.

vestigators are looking at the possibility that one of the pilots made a mistake by attempting to slow down the

aceship too soon. The head of the company, Richard Branson, has denied that he ignored safety warnings about

e spaceship before the crash. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into that

cident.

rion is NASA's return to manned spaceflight

or NASA, Orion represents a return to manned exploration of space after the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.

e agency hopes Orion will be able to carry humans to, what it calls, deep space: the Moon, Mars or beyond.

rion has three main parts: the crew module, the service module and the launch abort system. When fully developed,

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8/10/2019 NASA Test Launches Its New Orion Spacecraft - [VOA - Voice of America English News]

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