New NASA Space Crafts Finally Named

NASA's next generation of space crafts finally have names. Until now, the Constellation Project (NASA name that encompasses the new designs) lacked the classic, mythological names that the public associates with NASA ships. The new projects were simply known as the crew launch vehicle and crew exploration vehicle. The launch portion was given the name Ares a few weeks ago. It was announced on August 22, 2006 that the crew portion will be named Orion, after the arguably most easily recognizable constellation in the sky.

Orion is being designed to fulfill the NASA goal of returning to the moon and will replace the shuttle as the primary conduit to the international space station. The lift portion of the new ship will be available in two flavors. Ares I will launch Orion on light-weight missions to near-earth orbit. Ares V will used to send Orion on its missions to the moon. NASA's calendar has Orion's first scheduled flight in 2014 to support the international space station. The first flight to return astronauts to the moon is planned for 2020.

Orion's design is nothing like what we've come to expect after watching the shuttle for the last 25 years. It will be a kind of Apollo-Shuttle hybrid. NASA is returning to the classic capsule shape while taking advantage of new technologies developed during the Shuttle program. One of the most import reasons for returning to the classic conical shape is safety. There is little chance of a Challenger or Columbia type accident happening with the capsule design.

Orion will be capable of carrying six astronauts and cargo for near-earth missions or four crew members to the moon. Though not designed to make the mission to Mars, Orion will be used as the support system to transfers crews to what ever NASA dreams up as the ship to reach Mars. The capsule will have 2.5 times the internal volume of the old Apollo ships, be approximately 16.5 feet in diameter and weigh 25 tons.

Ares I looks like a heavy-duty solid-rocket booster from the shuttle, but is actually a multiple-stage rocket. Launch is initiated by solid fuel, but after separation, the new J-X2 liquid-fuel engine takes over. The booster portion, like the shuttle design, will be recovered and reused after only 2.5 minutes of use per launch. During those few seconds, the craft will have reached an altitude of over 37 miles and be traveling at Mach 6.1.

The Ares V will sport two solid-fuel boosters and get an extra, launch boost from five RS-68 engines. After separation, the J-X2 will propel the capsule, cargo and humans to their final destination. Ares V will be able to send payloads as large as 290,000 pounds into orbit. Moon missions will be limited to 144,000 pounds.