#SpaceSaturday: A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy #rocket #launched #NASA’s #Orion #spacecraft on Exploration Flight Test 1, or #EFT1.
The Delta IV Heavy was chosen as the post powerful and compatible rocket for the Orion test capsule, since its upper stage, the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage, serves as the basis for the Interim Cryogenic Upper Stage on the #SLS #rocket.
The #Delta4 could lift the capsule into a trajectory that would cause it to re-enter the atmosphere at similar velocities as a lunar return, proving the heat shield, parachutes, and landing systems.
It also verified the #LaunchAbortSystem disposal and fairing jettison.
#Delta4, #Delta4Heavy, #ExplorationFlightTest1, #RocketLaunch, #DeltaCryogenicSecondStage, #DCSS, #InterimCryogenicUpperStage, #ICUS, #UnitedLaunchAlliance, #ULA
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/delta-iv-with-orion-climbs-heron-and-fox.html

In the even that #NASA’s #SLS #rocket faces a problem during launch, the Launch Abort System can grab the crew capsule and pull it away from an exploding rocket and allow the #crew to descend to the ocean with its parachutes.
This one is partially inert and only fitted with the engines needed to detach the cover after it is no longer needed. It flew on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy during Orion’s Exploration Flight Test 1 and only had the engines necessary to remove it after it was no longer needed.
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/orion-eft-1-abort-motor-heron-and-fox.html
#LAS, #Orion, #LaunchAbortSystem, #EFT2, #space, #OrionProgram, #KennedySpaceCenter, #KSC, #Florida, #Photography, #Photo, #Photograph.

A #photograph of the lower section of an #Orion #crew #capsule in a work platform at the old “Manned Spaceflight Operations Center” at #KSC, now the #NeilArmstrong Operations and Checkout Building.
The new Orion integration pathway allows the Orion #spacecraft to be assembled, stacked on the #EuropeanServiceModule, and readied for #flight atop an #SLS #rocket.
The #LaunchAbortSystem integrated in a separate facility since the #LAS contains solid fueled rockets already. The stack is then integrated on top of SLS inside the Vehicle Assembly Building #VAB and then rolled out to #LC39B on the #Crawler-Transporter for #launch.
The O&C building, VAB, Crawler-Transporter, and LC-29B #infrastructure all have #Apollo-era heritage.
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/orion-capsule-bottom-heron-and-fox.html