“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.

In his 1987 novel, 2061 Odyssey three, Arthur C Clarke landed his spacecraft ”Universe” on Comet Halley in the first manned landing on a comet.

Today; Clarke’s fiction became reality. Coming 50 years to the month since the launch of Mariner 4, the first successful Martian flyby, the landing of the Philae lander on the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is yet another landmark moment in the history of unmanned space exploration.

After the failures of the Äntares launch vehicle and the Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2 the success of the Rosetta mission serves to remind us just how innovative we can be.

Launched from Khourou French Guiana in 2004; The Rosetta spacecraft; on a 10 year mission highlighted by flybys of Mars in 2007 and asteroids 2867 Stenis in 2007 and 21 Lutetia in 2010 culminated  in orbital insertion around the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with a periapsis of 29KM on August 6 of this year.

Today, after separation from Rosetta and a seven hour decent marred by the failure of landing clamps and issues with thruster rockets , the washing machine sized lander came to rest on the comet’s nucleus.

A mission to an asteroid is a long term goal of the American manned program. Today’s Philae landing has surely brought that goal one major step closer to fruition. The scientific results and images gained from this mission will be shared directly to those planning the manned asteroid mission and beyond.

An expansion of capability in deep space amongst smaller space faring communities bodes well for the future of space exploration as future manned missions beyond Low Earth orbit will require multinational collaborations and the emerging space nations will be critical to the success of those missions. Countries such as India, previously considered to be minor players in space are now actively being courted to participate in major collaborative space ventures.  Partnerships built on previous success will be the key to any successful manned mission to deep space.

The European Space Agency (ESA) responsible of today’s mission success is a case in point. ESA is an intergovernmental agency with 20 member European nations with all nations sharing research and development and lessening financial impact on any one nation. Since its formation in 1975 out of an amalgamation of ELDO (European Launcher Development Organization) with ESRO (European Space Research Organization), ESA has developed the Ariane family of financially viable satellite launchers, developed and launched the ISS Columbus module, the Spacelab science module for the shuttle and have a cadre of astronauts flying regularly on manned missions since the initial Spacelab flight on STS 9 Columbia in 1983.As America moves toward its new generation Orion spacecraft, ESA is playing a major role. A derivative of their Automated Transfer vehicle (ATV) which currently serves the ISS as a cargo carrier is being modified to serve as the Service Module for Orion.

After the failure of their Beagle Mars lander, ESA have tasted unmanned success with the Giotto probe to Halleys comet in 1986 Cassini Huygens mission to Saturn and now the Rosetta mission.

After half a century, space exploration is changing, no longer the domain of the traditional superpowers, we have seen in the past year seen the landing of the Chinese Yutu lander in the Moon’s Mare Imbrium (Sea of rains), the orbiting of the Indian Mars Orbital Mission (MOM) spacecraft around Mars and now the European Rosetta mission; landing on a comet.

Today’s mission is a milestone, not just for space history but for space policy. Gone forever is the notion of a single country space program. The future successes in space will come through international collaboration. We will see more ESA type agencies emerge and maybe, ultimately a united global space effort, exploring space using our shared knowledge for all mankind as we head to the stars.

In the past days we have seen the pictures of the two major accidents to have struck the private space sector. On October 29 2014 the Orbital Sciences Äntares launch vehicle carrying the Cygnus spacecraft “Deke Slayton” on a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station was lost four seconds after launch.

Two days later, on November 1^st, the Virgin Galactic “Spaceship 2, crashed in California. One pilot, Michael Alsbury was killed, another, Peter Siebold was seriously injured.

Both incidents, whilst tragic, serve to remind us of the dangers inherent in the development of the new age of spacecraft and launch vehicles.

With the phase out of the space shuttle, spaceflight in the United States is entering a new age. Companies such as Space X, Sierra Nevada and Orbital Sciences are now competing to provide access to Low Earth Orbit whilst NASA is looking beyond Low Earth Orbit, working to develop the Orion spacecraft and the Heavy Lift Vehicle for missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.

With this new age of space development comes a return to the past. Just as we; in the 1950’s and 1960’s underwent a period of development and test for our first tentative entry into space; so now, as the new space age dawns, we are undergoing a period of development and test for the new generation of cost effective spaceflight . Whilst we aim and test for success, and while we have stringent launch procedures to guard against catastrophic failure; the price of development and test is sometimes high, and tragically sometimes that failure results in loss of life.

Out of adversity comes success. In the early days of spaceflight 1 out of 5 launches failed. Wallops Island, the launch site for Äntares, witnessed many such failures. These failures and the subsequent examinations and investigations lead to the Delta and Atlas rockets, backbone of today’s US expendable launch vehicle fleet. In one month, a Delta 4 Heavy will launch the Orion Spacecraft on Exploration Flight Test One.

The ultimate success of the Apollo Moon landings came about due to the redesign of the Apollo spacecraft after the Apollo 1 fire. Through the post accident investigation, we realised that fundamentals which we had taken for granted throughout Mercury and Gemini in relation to the environmental systems of the spacecraft were floored. Less than two years after the loss of Grissom, White and Chaffee we flew to the moon in the new re-designed spacecraft. It is widely accepted that we would never have made Kennedy’s deadline for the moon landing had it not been for Apollo 1 and the changes it brought about.

In the1940’s in the very skies where Spaceship Two was being tested, Test Pilots sought to fly higher farther and faster in test aircraft at the cutting edge of aeronautical engineering. Names like Yeager, Crossfield and Armstrong are written in aviation immortality yet many others were written in the dusty sands of Mojave, paying the ultimate price as they sought to push the boundaries of “:the envelope”  pursuing the sound barrier at the edge of space in the X series of rocket powered aircraft.

30 years later Concorde was flying commercial air passengers between London and New York and the Space Shuttle was in Atmospheric test.

Whilst the events of the past days are confronting; the long term success of these commercial ventures will have their origins in the recommendations from the ongoing investigations into both accidents, the adherence of both companies to those recommendations and a spirit within the companies to fly again.

Reports suggesting that civilian spaceflight may be delayed by several years in the wake of loss of Spaceship 2 may well prove accurate. Any redesign takes time; time for detailed examination and evaluation of the accident cause, time for careful redesign of components and time for retest and evaluation of test results. The age of civilian spaceflight will ultimately benefit from the lessons learned from the accident investigations now underway. Any accident, while costly in terms of human life, loss of hardware or loss of infrastructure can and does have the very real and beneficial effect of reducing complacency both at an engineering or managerial level, emphasising an attention to detail in manufacture and heightening safety standards within the launch team and the organisation as a whole.

It is to be hoped the companies concerned will grow in maturity from these accidents; emerging from these setbacks with a far stronger quality control program. One focussed on more stringent assembly procedures, pre-launch testing and flight safety  thereby leading to vehicles of greater reliability as we enter the age of commercial spaceflight.

30 years ago this week an American space icon lifted into a clear Florida morning on its inaugural flight.

Delayed from its intended June 1984 launch by technical and weather issues; The Space Shuttle Discovery, named for a number of exploratory ships including one used by Captain Cook to explore the Pacific, did not enjoy an easy birth, enduring three postponements; one featuring the first ever on pad abort before finally flaming its way into orbit from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on 30 August 1984.

Flight 41-D, NASA’s 12th shuttle flight would be the first of 39 launches, 365 days on orbit and 5830 orbits of the earth for what would become NASA’s longest serving shuttle orbiter.

The storied career of NASA’s third Space Shuttle orbiter would feature many milestones and notable firsts: The first Defence Department mission, the launching of  NASA’s great observatories; the Hubble Space Telescope, the Ulysses Solar Explorer and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.

In 1998 Discovery returned John Glenn to obit before racing the Y2K bug to repair Hubble on the final spaceflight of the 20^th century during Christmas 1999.

Appropriately, Discovery would fly the 100^th Space Shuttle mission, STS 92, a Space Station assembly mission delivering the Z1 truss in October 2000.

Discovery would, on three occasions, serve as a beacon of promise for NASA, leading the shuttle fleet back into space on three return to flight missions following loss of sister orbiters Challenger and Columbia.

Discovery holds a place in Australian space history, launching Australia’s first domestic communications satellite, Aussat 1 on STS 51-I in August 1985. Ten years later, Discovery would return Australian astronaut Andy Thomas following his stay on Space Station MIR closing out the Shuttle-Mir program.

27 years after STS 41D; I watched nervously with friends in Houston as Discovery soared aloft for the 39^th and final time on STS 133, her 13th mission in support of the International Space Station. As with her first launch, her last would remind us all of the precision and technical complexity that was such a defining feature of any shuttle launch, launching into a late afternoon sky with just seconds remaining in its launch window due to a range safety issue.

12 days and 19 hours later, I, along with hundreds of others; stood beside the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) viewing site at Kennedy Space Center; hoping to witness a moment in space history. Strong winds, barely at the limits for shuttle operations, made a landing unlikely. With only moments to spare before landing would have to be delayed one day, Mission control cleared Discovery to come home.

Over the east coast of Australia, Discovery fired her engines one final time. The De-Orbit burn brought her out of orbit, falling toward a landing half a world away at the Kennedy Space Center.

For the final time, Discovery slipped from the familiar black of space to the extreme heat of re entry.

Across the Space Coast, eyes were turned skyward, as a double sonic boom announced Discovery’s arrival.

Discovery was making her final curtain call in conditions not dissimilar to those as she rose from Pad 39A almost three decades before.

In a moment she evolved from a fast moving white speck to the fine lines of a Space Shuttle orbiter with contrails shedding of her wings, small puffs emitting from her Reaction Control System (RCS) engines as she made one final overhead turn before her main gear touched runway 1-5; the North West to South East landing approach of the SLF.

The workhorse of the shuttle fleet was bringing the last of her 252 astronauts safely back to Earth.

As her nose gear touched down and her drag chute deployed to slow her post landing roll out, those of us alongside the SLF erupted in applause and cheering… elation for a successful mission.

Then, wheels-stop. After 146 million miles, Discovery was still, she would never again move under her own power. Our applause subsided as a stark realisation came upon us.

There would be no next flight for Discovery. In a moment; she had transitioned from a flightworthy orbiter to a part of history. She would be unique for all time. Her record of achievement and service to the space program never to be surpassed.

Silence tinged with tears of sadness set in amongst us all sharing this moment at the SLF as we felt the full impact of the events that we had witnessed.

As crew worked to safe the vehicle, one of the ground team sprayed blue lines either side of the main or nose landing gear. Discovery’s final wheel stop position has been preserved for all time, the site now marked by a bronze plaque on the edge of the runway.

In the late afternoon sun, Discovery, surrounded by those who loved and cared for her was towed from the runway; the curtain finally coming down on her long career as she disappeared into the Orbiter Processing Facility.

NASA’s great lady, Discovery, had left the stage.

After a 12 month transition to retirement, Discovery left KSC for the final time in April 2012. Fittingly, her arrival in the national capital was an encore befitting a true national icon. Riding atop NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, the Jumbo jet known as NASA 905; she completed a flyover of The Washington Mall, the White House and the Capitol before landing at Dulles Airport.

Three years later after STS 133, Discovery, her systems inert, her computer displays darkened and her engines forever silent; rests in a place of honour as a national treasure, the centrepiece of the James S McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F Udvar Hazy Center in Chantilly VA.

She is displayed a I last saw her on the SLF, in landing configuration, with her landing gear down and locked – Mission accomplished.

30 years after her first launch, Discovery has a new mission. Continuing to inspire the nation and serving as an inspiration for those who dream of conquering the frontiers of space, educating the next generation of space engineers and explorers, and serving as a  powerful symbol of what can be accomplished, with human intellect and ingenuity, courage and conviction.

From a personal perspective, the landing of STS 133 was a unique and deeply personal experience. In my travels, I was been fortunate to see three shuttles in operation. Columbia, Discovery and Endeavour. All were special, but the landing of STS 133 was a unique moment, one so powerful that it, along with other events on my 2011 tour, inspired me to redefine my direction as a Historian, an Educator and media commentator.

My abiding memory of Discovery is off seeing her on the runway, standing on her own gear, with her own proud wings holding her up.

“On the shoulders of the Space Shuttle, America will continue the dream”

To my Space Shuttle:

Happy Anniversary Discovery!!!

On this day 45 years ago, a grainy inverted black and white picture appeared on TV screens around the word. In Australia, it is the morning of Monday July 21^st 1969. Around the nation, schools, factories and workplaces pause to watch. In an instant the picture rights itself to show an image never seen before; the figure of a space suited man carefully descending a ladder; the black of space and the stark lunar terrain merging to form a surreal backdrop. The picture coming from Tranquility Base through the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in the ACT makes a barely perceptible jump, becoming clearer as the lone man continues his downward trek. After endless seconds, the last rung of the ladder is reached. The man, as if in slow motion, jumps down to the landing pad of the Lunar Module Eagle. Just 12 years after the first satellite is launched, the moment that countless scientists, theoreticians, engineers and technicians have dreamed of is finally at hand.

At that moment, the thoughts and prayers of 600 million people watching around the  world are turned to the heavens for that one man so far removed from the rest of humanity as he takes one small step…A step that forever alters the course of human history.

On this day the world stopped, looked up and marveled as the first men walked on the surface of the Moon. Surely with this feat, the road to the stars now lay open. The shackles that had bound us to the Earth since creation had been broken. On this day, the planets and stars felt closer than ever.

Within days of the Apollo landing the unmanned Mariner 6 flies by Mars returning close up images of the red planet, Vice President, Spiro Agnew calls for a manned landing on Mars by the Year 2000 and Pan Am is selling tickets for flights to the Moon… Surely the vision promised by 2001 A Space Odyssey of lunar settlements and orbiting Hilton space hotels must only be a few short years away….

45 years later, we are still waiting. The vision, unfulfilled. Whilst a magnificent armada of unmanned spaceships have, with breathtaking clarity revealed to us the worlds that comprise our solar system, we are still to glimpse these sights with our own eyes.

Since the beginning of time man has sought to expand his horizons. Just as those who first sought the Great Southern Land in the 16 and 1700’s accepted great risk in the pursuit of knowledge, so we in the 21^st century must accept similar risks to meet the challenges of space if we are not to be forever chained to our home world.

On this 45^th anniversary; with the first test launch of the Orion spacecraft imminent, the opportunity is at hand for us to once again reach for the stars. The knowledge to go forward exists in laboratories and scientific institutions around the world. The crew for the Mars 1 missions are, at this moment in our educational institutions.

Exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit will never be easy. It will involve missions of a complexity and scope unimaginable at the time of Apollo and that even now are at the cutting edge of technology.  Neither will it be a feat achieved by any one nation; the costs alone are prohibitive to any fiscally responsible government. Only through a multinational collaborative effort, sharing knowledge and resources can the goals of planetary exploration and lunar settlement be achieved.

A precedent for such an effort exists through the development and operation by 16 nations of the International Space Station. Through our experiences on Space Station we have learned to design, construct and utilize a permanently manned orbital station. It is time now to capitalize on that experience of International collaboration to further our horizons beyond Low Earth orbit.

All that is lacking is the resolution and commitment to proceed.  The challenge will be great, but the cost of lost opportunity through prolonged inaction will, in the longer term be far greater.

The last flight of the Space Shuttle in July 2011, delivered to the International Space Station a United States flag that flew on the first shuttle flight. It is to return with the next US launched crew to visit the station, then to depart once more with the first crew to head out beyond Low Earth Orbit.

Today this flag remains on Space Station…Waiting to be retrieved.

Let us accept the challenge this flag represents. Lets us go forward… back to the Moon on to Mars and the planets beyond.