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NASA's Orion spacecraft lifted off yesterday in a successful launch however does the future of human space travel go with it? Orion is supposed to be NASA's next generation of space travel. Video above is compliments of NASA
Orion is intended to take humans to Mars probably within the next 20 years. This un-manned rocket launch yesterday was the first successful lift-off, orbit, re-entry and landing procedure of this system. However, for this test, the Orion spacecraft is the capsule at the top of the Delta IV rocket, the old rocket of the 60's. Travel to deep space asteroids and Mars will be with NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS). NASA claims that the SLS will have 10% more thrust than the Saturn V and carry 3X more payload than the Space Shuttle. The SLS will be taller than the Saturn V and combines technology from the space shuttle using its booster rockets, with the stages of the Saturn V. NASA indicates the SLS will be the future of human space travel, taking humans to Mars by the year 2022. Hopefully the American government will see this rocket system as a necessary development in human exploration of space and continue its funding. Otherwise, It may be Space-X and Elon Musk who are the first humans to "boldly go where no man has gone before". Maddalena Environmental Inc. Al Maddalena |
