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Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:40 am
by U.S. Water Rockets
They called off the launch this morning due to some intermittent operation of the core and port Liquid Hydrogen Fill/Drain valves, and also there was a concern of high wind gusts. Watched the entire launch attempt on NASA's video on their website.

They seem to be resetting for a second try in 24 hours.

One thing learned from the broadcast is that they are using a UAV to patrol the landing zone to obtain video of the parachute descent. That will be cool if they can get it to work.

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 4:14 pm
by RaketfuedRockets
I hope they have a successful launch tomorrow. :)
It's great to see the cooperation between ESA and NASA.
(The European Space Agency builds the service module of the Orion).
The last weeks were really full of interesting news about aerospace.
Landing on a comet, Orion, Ariane 6 Rockets,...
Greetings from Germany =)

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:54 am
by U.S. Water Rockets
RaketfuedRockets wrote:I hope they have a successful launch tomorrow. :)
It's great to see the cooperation between ESA and NASA.
(The European Space Agency builds the service module of the Orion).
The last weeks were really full of interesting news about aerospace.
Landing on a comet, Orion, Ariane 6 Rockets,...
Greetings from Germany =)
So far so good! The launch has been perfect so far. The only issue was that the NASA website was overloaded and some of us missed part of the liftoff in live realtime because the video feed was cutting out. The rest of the flight looks really exciting.

One thing to mention is that the parachute recovery is more terrifying than launch, now that we have experience with making our own parachute systems and testing them out. It just seems like there are so many random things that can go wrong with a parachute system.

Hoping for a safe and successful remaining flight and recovery for this exciting new crew launch capsule! The first time in 42 years a human rated rocket has gone beyond low earth orbit!

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:55 am
by U.S. Water Rockets
They have downloaded the onboard video from the capsule now.

This is going to be awesome. Hurry up and release it!

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:29 pm
by bugwubber
Look at those beautiful parachutes!

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:31 pm
by bugwubber
A golden spike in the bridge to the future?

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:34 pm
by U.S. Water Rockets
bugwubber wrote:A golden spike in the bridge to the future?
That was sort of silly. Where did that come from? Why would the announcer spoil the moment with a kooky metaphor like that?

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:45 pm
by bugwubber
U.S. Water Rockets wrote:
bugwubber wrote:A golden spike in the bridge to the future?
That was sort of silly. Where did that come from? Why would the announcer spoil the moment with a kooky metaphor like that?
I am soo glad that wasn't what Neil had to say on the moon.

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:46 pm
by bugwubber
Most awesome game of "Will it Float?"

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:50 pm
by U.S. Water Rockets
It looks like they didn't recover the pilot and drogue parachutes, or the parachute cover. They must have sunk?

The amazing thing watching it was how obvious the thing slowed down when the parachutes deployed.

Too bad it went into cloud cover before splashdown.

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:50 pm
by U.S. Water Rockets
It looks like they used Toyota Air bags. LOL.

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:01 pm
by bugwubber
U.S. Water Rockets wrote:It looks like they used Toyota Air bags. LOL.
2 outta 5 ain't bad?

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:35 am
by U.S. Water Rockets
We knew that the capsule had landed about 2 seconds before they announced it, because of all the experience we have had with water landings. The onboard camera view looks exactly like many of our own landings. It appears from the camera that you can see the water splashing over the camera and then you can see the parachute deflating and then the announcer gets his telemetry and makes the splashdown call.

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 5:13 am
by RaketfuedRockets
That was a very good test flight!
The NASA did a great job, I am looking forward to see humans return to the moon ;).
Greetings from Germany

Re: Orion Launch Scrubbed

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 12:07 am
by U.S. Water Rockets
RaketfuedRockets wrote:That was a very good test flight!
The NASA did a great job, I am looking forward to see humans return to the moon ;).
Greetings from Germany
It always amazes me that they can get so many things to work right, the first time they try them. Like the "Sky Crane" lander for Curiosity Rover, and now the Orion. How can they possibly know all of the things that go wrong and account for them without actually doing any "trial and error" testing? It's really amazing that they are able to get so much to work using simulators and testing.

Compare that to prototype jet fighters, which go through many changes and modifications before they go into production!