By Andy Pasztor
A string of weather issues and technical problems prompted NASA
to delay Thursday's planned launch of an unmanned Orion spacecraft
from Florida for at least a day.
Orion's launch would have marked the first test flight of a
spacecraft the U.S. hopes to rely on for human exploration of the
solar system in the next few decades.
Higher than allowable winds and balky fuel valves temporarily
stopped the countdown multiple times at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station before and after the original launch time of 7 a.m.
EST.
In the end, National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams
determined they lacked adequate time to troubleshoot problems--and
didn't want to take the chance of depleting certain onboard
video-camera batteries--by making one last attempt to lift off just
before the launch window was set to close around 9:45 a.m.
Wind shifts and an errant boater who mistakenly entered the
protected launch zone were responsible for some initial delays.
Automated fail-safe systems twice halted the countdown briefly when
sensors recorded excessive winds, but mission controllers remained
confident they had enough time to recycle systems for launch.
Later, balky valves on Orion's fuel system prompted another,
longer delay. Even as engineers struggled to verify that all the
valves were working normally, managers scrubbed Thursday's launch
and announced the next attempt wouldn't occur until Friday morning
at the earliest.
The planned voyage, featuring two orbits and scheduled to last
less than five hours, is slated to take Orion some 3,600 miles
above the earth, more than 10 times higher than the trajectory of
the international space station. But it won't resolve long-standing
questions about how future Orion missions will be paid for or even
where they would go.
NASA officials describe later versions of the 11-foot long
Orion, with advanced onboard life-support and navigation systems
protected by extensive radiation shielding, as the primary vehicle
to transport future astronauts to asteroids and eventually to Mars,
perhaps by the late 2030s. Yet so far, NASA's plans have failed to
generate the international support, congressional consensus and
public excitement back home that the agency expected.
It is unclear how NASA's budgets--already stretched by the
roughly $3 billion annual price that is the U.S. share of operating
the international space station--will cover Orion's
multibillion-dollar development costs over the next decade as well
as a steady launch rhythm. Building and testing separate vehicles
able to touch down at destinations is likely to cost billions of
additional dollars. Debate also continues to simmer on Capitol Hill
and elsewhere about whether astronauts should first take Orion near
the moon to perfect propulsion, fueling, life-support and other
essential technologies.
Orion illustrates the mercurial, sometimes roller-coaster nature
of U.S. manned space efforts better than any other recent
program.
The planned test launch will be the first time since 1972, when
Apollo 17 returned from the moon, that a spacecraft built to carry
astronauts will venture beyond low-earth orbit.
The major goals of the test flight will be to assess how well
Orion's navigation and electronics systems stand up to radiation,
the performance of its heat shield and the way its parachutes are
able to withstands re-entry speeds.
Built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and currently costing NASA about
$1 billion a year, the space agency casts Orion as the key to
deep-space ventures. Together with a next-generation rocket, the
overall system could cost more than $20 billion through 2021, the
year the first manned mission is slated to occur.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Lockheed Martin Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US5398301094
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires