Mars on the horizon – Newspaper

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Lanzamientto 8The off of ‘Orion’ in Cape Canaveral, yesterday.

The capsule Orion has successfully completed its first flight into space, an essay, as proclaimed yesterday NASA opens a “new era” in space exploration, an era which should lead to the first man on Mars. With a day late, the ship took two laps to orbit the earth in a flight of about four and a half hours before amerizar, as planned, on the Pacific coast. The trip marks a milestone because for over 40 years, particularly since the Apollo XVII take the last man on the moon, no other ship designed to carry crew had strayed so far from the earth.

This time no one has traveled in the capsule. It was a test flight, the first, to check the operation of the ship, loaded with more than 1,200 sensors and other technical equipment. And, according to a NASA spokesman, was a flight ‘perfect’, a relief after the recent accident two spacecraft built by private companies, one of which subcontracted by the space agency. “America, there goes your new spaceship” said commentator mission control shortly before the capsule fell slowly over the Pacific, suspended several parachute.

The Orion took off at 7.05 local time from Cape Canaveral (Florida), a day after its launch had to be postponed because of a technical problem and gusty winds blowing on the peninsula. During the flight he reached a speed of 3,000 miles per hour, he had to cut the water to subside in just about 30 kilometers per hour. The landing took place about 1,000 kilometers southwest of San Diego (California).

The capsule Orion, whose journey has cost about $ 375 million, will no longer go into space until 2018, when it was expected to fly unmanned again in the second trial. NASA hopes in 2021 could lead to the first astronauts aboard. Although its mission is not too clear yet, the intention is to use a NASA robotic spacecraft to capture the asteroid and draw to the orbit of the Moon. Once there, astronauts Orion would take samples and examine it.

Some exastronautas have questioned the cost of the mission, about 2,000 million, but NASA still defending it. “Just thinking about the idea of ​​having a human interacting with a asteroid around the Moon is amazing” said agency administrator Charlie Bolden. “We are very confident that we can do.” After this mission, try to reach Mars, a project conceived in the early 30. But so many years it seems possible that the priorities of US government changed again.