Orion Blog

Orion, America’s next-generation space exploration project, is part of the Constellation program to explore the solar system. The Lockheed Martin Corp. unit and NASA are partnering in human-factors simulations to develop Orion’s command module. Lockheed Martin’s Orion contracts are valued at about $4 billion. LMSSC project managers say that simulations for “what-if” scenarios and tradeoff [...]

NASA announced today that Benham Constructors LLC of Oklahoma City has been selected to receive a $51.4 million contract to design, build and commission a vibration and acoustic test capability that will support development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) at the Space Power Facility at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. Plum Brook Station [...]

As the nation holds its breath for the shuttle Endeavour’s landing as early as Tuesday, there are Michigan companies tracking the development of NASA’s next-generation spacecraft hoping to become part of that historic program. By 2010, NASA plans to retire its three active space shuttles, the newest of which is 16 years old. For future [...]

NASA has awarded defense contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc. $1.8 billion (€1.3 billion) to develop a motor for the Orion capsule, which will replace the space shuttle and be able to reach the moon and Mars, the company said. The first-stage propulsion system will lift astronauts solely with solid fuel instead of a combination of solid [...]

NASA has issued a request for proposal for key guidance, navigation and control hardware for the new Ares I crew launch vehicle. The upper stage instrument unit avionics will be used during the Ares I ascent. Proposals are due no later than 2 p.m. EDT July 30, with a selection expected in November. The contract [...]

The Government Accountability Office praised NASA’s workforce management, saying that newly implemented workforce-planning information systems have helped the agency plan for its missions. NASA faces tough challenges under President Bush’s plan to put humans back on the moon. It is working to develop new space flight systems, such as the Orion Crew Exploration and  Ares [...]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration issued a draft environmental impact statement concerning its Constellation Program. The Constellation project involves the development of a space transportation system designed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The NASA draft statement examines the effects of developing, testing and operating spacecraft and support systems associated with that [...]

Frank Sietzen, Jr – Space: the search for a political consensus Illness has sharply restricted my following of space affairs during much of the past year, but recently I have taken note of some stirrings in the space community as Campaign 2008 approaches. Four old colleagues of mine gave their thoughts recently at Rick Tumlinson’s [...]

From Yoni Goldstein: A(nother) reason to suspend space travel In June, I argued in this space that NASA should postpone space exploration until it could be sure that their space shuttles wouldn’t burn up on re-entry because of gashes in heat shields caused by rogue pieces of foam. “The disintegration of the Columbia shuttle during [...]

NASA has issued a draft environmental impact statement on potential environmental impacts associated with the Constellation Program. NASA’s Constellation Program is developing a space transportation system that is designed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement concludes that localized and global environmental impacts associated with implementing the Constellation [...]