46 years ago, three men orbited the Moon in Apollo 8, on Christmas Eve 1968, people around the world tuned in to the voices and words of three men as the orbited the Moon 230 000 miles away. In light of recent events in  Sydney, the words that were heard that day bear repeating this Christmas:

Lunar Module Pilot William Anders

We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Command Module Pilot James Lovell

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Commander Frank Borman

“And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.”

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth

        “Liftoff at dawn. The dawn of Orion and a new era of space exploration”

So said NASA media commentator Mike Curie at 11:35PM AEST Friday night as the Delta 4 heavy, on only its eighth mission lifted into the Florida sky carrying the Orion spacecraft on a flight that  opened a new age of space exploration for the United States. Three and a half years after the last shuttle fight and 42 years after Apollo 17, a spacecraft designed to carry man once again left Low Earth Orbit.

My immediate reaction to Orion’s mission was I suspect similar to millions of others around the world who were watching the flight in person, on social media or via NASA TV. Despite my best efforts to I became so absorbed by the pictures from the spacecraft and the unmanned airborne Ikhana drone of the final stages of descent and splash that my live blog lay forgotten after entry interface.

Now we wait, with great anticipation for the next Orion flight.

Currently under construction at Lockheed, this Orion spacecraft, coupled with the ESA developed service module will fly from Kennedy’s Pad 39B on an unmanned circumlunar trajectory. Launch of the Space Launch System heavy lift vehicle, from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39B is currently scheduled for 2017.  

Only then, in 2020, will astronauts strap into Orion for the first time… nine years after the final shuttle flight.

What effect will Friday’s success have in the corridors of both NASA Headquarters and the Congress? One hopes that a combination of the apparent faultlessness of this first flight, coupled with the public enthusiasm generated world wide will inspire a rethink of the Orion development schedule, and that through increased support and funding for NASA and Orion by the Senate and Congress we will see a substantial revision of both the budget and the flight schedule, with the first manned flight occurring sooner than the predicted date of 2020.

NASA therefore faces the formidable task of maintaining public interest and support for Orion and its mission of manned exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit in the intervening period until the next flight.

Maintaining interest and support for Orion and other programs whether they be manned or unmanned is a task that belongs not just to NASA, but to every person across the world who believes in the peaceful exploration and development of space. It is therefore, the mission of everyone who genuinely believes in and supports a bold program space development and exploration to take a level of ownership and openly support the space program trough representation to those in a position to directly influence NASA’s budget, either at a national government or industry level.

Exploration Flight Test One was indeed a new dawn. Now we eagerly wait for the sun to rise further on a new and robust era of manned missions, to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Let us all play our part in ensuring that the sun never sets on this new age of exploration.

Good evening and welcome to the second launch attempt for NASA’s orion Spacecraft on the Exploration Flight Test one mission from Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral.

10::30PM: At this time the count is continuing on schedule, the vehicle is fully fueled with topping of all tanks completed. Weather is GO and we are not tracking any issues with the booster or the spacecraft at this time.

T-15 Minutes and counting with launch 29 minutes from now. The diference in time is due to the final scheduled hold at T-4 minutes, a hold of some 14 minutes duration. At this time Liquid Hydrogen flight conditioning in the Delta 4 Heavy is complete.

10:49PM: we are in the T- 4 Minute hold, with weather remaining acceptable at this time, launch remains on schedule for 11:05PM, some 16 minutes from now.

10:59PM We have permission from the Launch director to launch. At L – 6 minutes, We have a final clear to launch.

11:01PM T – 4 minutes and counting ! entering the terminal count

11:03PM: T – 2:50 seconds all proceeding well, ordnances armed

11:04PM: range is Green. Standby for launch…

11:12PM launch abort separation after a successful lauch from Cape Canaveral, sorry for the dropout we just lost Internet here and have only just got going again

11:13PM 900 miles from the Cape Orion functioning perfectly as it heads due East from KSC

11:15PM now getting pictures down from Orion showing a clouded earth over the American east coast

11:18:  2100 miles downrange from Canaveral, the core boosters of the Delta 4 have separated, the second  stage is now burning as Orion drifts in its preliminary orbit. Again, our apologies, the NASA websites crashed, probably due to the demand for access, we’re back up and running now

11:21: Orion now at 221 miles apogee and continuing to climb

11:24PM : preliminary orbit with the second stage shutdown  orbit is 554 X 115 miles

11:29PM: launch Replays NOW on NASA TV

11:36PM: NASA TV showing replays of a flawless launch, orion continues in its orbital coast still attached to the second stage booster with the second burn due in 1 hour and 40 minutes.

11:45PM:  T + 40 Minutes:  Flying east of Madagascar, All quiet in Mission Control: Todays launch was truly unique as it was the only time that the Orion Delta 4 Heavy combination will fly, the next flight will be on the Heavy Lift Vehicle from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39B.

At this moment we have Orion in a BBQ roll mode, damilliar from Apollo days, we rotate the spacecraft to distribute heat evenly over the surface of the spacecraft to prevent overheating of avionics and instrumentation of the spacecraft.

11:52PM: We’ll hold our rolling coverage at the moment and come back for the engine burn in around  1 hour from now.

12:42AM: Weather conditions within the orion recovery area 600 miles SE of San Diego are favourable to support recovery of today’s flight.

12:55AM:  5 minutes to restart of the second stage engine of the Delta 4 Heavy. Burn time 4 Mins 40 seconds. peak altitude will be 3600 miles.

1:00AM: We show the burn in progress at 1hr 56 Mins Mission Elapsed Time

1:01AM Chamber pressure stable in this 4 min 40 second burn, for the first time in 42 years, a spacecraft designed to carry man is leaving Low Earth Orbit, Velocity: 27,000 Feet per Second.

1:08AM: Burn should be complete, no word yet from NASA TV.

1:10AM “A perfect burn”according to NASA TV.

1:15AM: getting set for the tests associated with radiation levels within the Van Allen belts.

1;30AM: We’ll stand by now and come back when we get apogee and provide rolling coverage of entry and splashdown.

1:54AM : orion’s Reaction Control System has been activated, this system  of two strings of six hydrozine fueled rocket s will be used to guide the spacecraft’s descent.

2:15AM:  Orion has reached its peak atitude of 3,604.2 miles (In excess of 5000KM) with peak altitude reached, decent into the atmosphere will begin shortly.

2:32AM: Orion flies free !!! the second stage, acting in liew of the Service Module has separated, we are 56 minutes from splashdown at this time.

2:54AM: Flight Dynamics Officer has reported that Orion splashdown target is only 1.5 miles off that predicted prior to launch at a point 275 miles west of Baja California. at maximum reentry speed the spacecraft will be subjected to a force equivalent to 8.5 G.

3:03AM: Orion now manoeuvering into position for the “Raise burn” a test of the Reaction Control system, Orion is in the correct angle of attack for entry.

306AM: 806 miles altitude, 22 minutes to splashdown and 12 minutes to entry interface.

3:11AM: 3036 miles to splashdown at an altitude of 500 miles.

Within 36 hours of this posting, December 4 at 7:03AM EDT, NASA will take the first meaningful step leading to the first manned missions beyond Low Earth Orbit since the final flight to the Moon in 1972.

The Orion Spacecraft, America’s new generation spacecraft stands ready on Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral awaiting launch on a Delta 4 Heavy launch vehicle. It was from this same launch complex that the original Saturn 1 launches took place in the mid 1960’s lofting Apollo Boilerplate Command Modules to Low Earth Orbit in the first flight tests of the Apollo Spacecraft, now, 48 years later, we are, from the same facility, returning to deep space exploration. This time, to stay. Orion will take Americans, back to the Moon and  to  destinations beyond … firstly to an asteroid and ultimately a manned exploration of Mars.

In the most anticipated flight test in a generation, Orion will, during a 4 hour 2.5 orbit flight, be boosted to an altitude of 5,800KM before a 32,000 KM/H re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere in a dramatic test of the spacecraft and heatshield that will sustain American astronauts as they travel to destinations beyond the confines of Low Earth Orbit.

As NASA takes this major step towards the future of space exploration, Orbital Projects plans to provide updates via the website and via ABC Radio around Australia.

Join us Dec 3 at 9PM AEDT on 936 ABC Hobart for a flight preview with updates continuing through the night via the website as the countdown and flight progresses.

Further radio coverage times will be posted on the Homepage as they are confirmed.

For live video coverage of the launch take the NASA Television link on our Other Links Page.