Spacecraft Orion: what’s it for?

The long-awaited Orion spacecraft has been unveiled by Lockheed Martin. The vehicle was conceived as a flexible manned craft, ultimately capable of taking people back to the moon, and on to Mars. A technological upgrade of Apollo, the spacecraft was designed for one trip only. It was also planned to take astronauts to the International Space Station and back.

Orion spacecraft needs a mission and a booster.

Then, the Constellation project—of which Orion was a part—was cancelled. Orion’s mission was over before it began, and it looked like Orion itself was a goner.

But, for whatever reason, the Obama administration was persuaded to retain the craft…which no longer had a mission, or even a booster to send it into orbit. (The planned booster, Ares, was cancelled.) It’s mission now appears to be as an escape pod for astronauts living on the International Space Station. But without a booster, how will it get there?

NASA has been assigned to develop a “heavy lift vehicle” which may or may not be the booster Orion needs. It’s not clear. The administration also may or may not see Orion as a vehicle to send astronauts to an asteroid or Mars. But there’s no plans for either trip and no money allocated either.

Still, a Lockheed Martin official put a happy face on the announcement. John Karas, a VP at the company said “Our nation’s next bold step in exploration could begin by 2016.” But a whole lot of unanswered questions need to be clarified before Orion goes anywhere.