posted 11-08-2011 12:47 PM               

Editor's note: In an effort to keep the topic NASA's Orion Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) focused on status updates, readers' feedback and opinions are directed to this thread.

Please use this topic to discuss NASA's proposed early-2014 test flight of the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV).

posted 11-08-2011 09:01 PM               

To accomplish the EFT-1 objectives, NASA plans to expand the scope of the existing Orion contract.

The EFT-1 flight test utilizes an early production variant of the Orion spacecraft which is comprised of four elements: the Orion launch abort system, crew module, service module, and spacecraft adapter and fairings. The Orion contractor is currently developing these four elements under the existing contract.

The additional scope required is to integrate the spacecraft with the launch system, along with other unique integration efforts between this integrated stack and the ground and operations systems. The contractor also will be responsible for providing the launch service, including a launch vehicle capable of lifting the spacecraft into a highly lofted orbit to achieve the high energy reentry requirement.

The primary deliverable for this effort will be the flight test data and engineering evaluation of the test results against the formal flight test objectives established by NASA.

NASA/JSC intends to procure this additional scope for the integrated flight test on a sole-source basis from LMSSC, Denver Colorado, via a modification of the Orion contract.

posted 11-13-2011 09:05 PM               

Many would say that it is a waste of money and that there are more important things. Gene Kranz said it best in the Discovery Channel series, When We Left Earth, "To stop in space is to surrender."

posted 05-14-2012 09:07 PM               

Further, Marshall Space Flight Center has been testing parts of the service module for EFT-1.

posted 11-22-2012 08:04 AM               

The cracks were discovered during a proof pressure test the week of Nov. 5. Proof testing, in which a pressure vessel is subject to stresses greater than those it is expected to encounter during routine use, is one of the many preflight tests NASA is performing on Orion to certify the craft is safe for astronauts, agency spokeswoman Rachel Kraft said.

"The cracks are in three adjacent, radial ribs of this integrally machined, aluminum bulkhead," Kraft wrote in an email. "This hardware will be repaired and will not need to be remanufactured."

It took Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver about a year to make the vehicle that was damaged. Kraft did not say how long it would take to repair the capsule, built as part of a program intended to take astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit.

Cracking occurred when the pressure inside the Orion module reached about 149 kilopascals, or 21.6 pounds per square inch, Kraft said. To pass the proof test, the Orion pressure module has to withstand about 164 kilopascals, which is roughly 1.5 times the maximum stress the capsule is expected to encounter during missions, she said. Increasing the pressure inside the craft in an ambient environment of 1 atmosphere -- air pressure at sea level -- effectively simulates the conditions Orion would encounter in a vacuum.