What is the current status of the Orion program to get the U.S. back to the Moon?

Question

There doesn't seem to be a lot out there about this. I know it's in development, but I'm wondering if there is a current timeline (one that wasn't created 5 years ago) that is thought to bear some resemblance to reality.

Will we land by 2015 or 2020? I've seen both dates. I would think 2015 would be doable, but my guess is they will just take their time. It's a shame, because China, Japan and India are all racing up there now. I wish we could have the same fire in the belly as we had in the 1960s. The race is much bigger, and much more important now.

garrison -- what is the point of spelling the word "Americans" with a "k" instead of a "c"? What does that signify? I assume it is an insult of some kind, but your point is lost on me.

Answer 1

The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is planned to start operating in 2014. The first missions will be to the International Space Station. The missions to the moon are planned to start in 2018 and missions to Mars in 2020.

It's still pretty early in the development so things have not slipped yet. A lot will depend on funding and priorities as set by administration and Congress.

I hope that the competition from the countries you named will help keep the program going, but there's no telling.

Answer 2

Orion is a spacecraft design currently under development by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts, and will be launched by the new Ares I launch vehicle. Both Orion and Ares I are elements of NASA's Project Constellation, which plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.[1][2] On August 31, 2006, NASA awarded Lockheed Martin (LM) the contract to design, develop, and build Orion.[3]

Orion will launch from the same launch complex at Kennedy Space Center that currently launches the Space Shuttle. NASA will use Orion spacecraft for its human spaceflight missions after the last Shuttle orbiter is retired in 2010. Orion is scheduled initially to handle logistic flights to the International Space Station starting at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015, and after that is to become a key component of missions to the Moon and Mars.


There was also a project Orion back in the 50s whose design had a large metal "pusher plate" behind the crews quarterer. Nuclear bombs would be set off at a regular basis behind the heavy plate, providing propulsive power. It probably could have worked, but congress naturally killed it because of concerns about heavy radioactive fallout. An uncharacteristically wise decision by our elected officials.

Answer 3

Contracts for avionics for the Ares booster, CEV systems, and the Ares upper stage, are to be awarded next month. After that there will be more progress, because the detailed work will begin.

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Answer 4

There are no firm plans to even go to the Moon. The firm plans are only to get the new rocket flying to the space station. After that there are ideas and proposals to go on to the Moon, but nothing like a real time line.

Answer 5

It will probably never happen. AmeriKa is a bankrupt country now and the technical types our universities are turning out "KANT EVUN SPEL INGINEER" so this country doesn't HAVE the technical ability to do what it can't afford.

The whole Orion thing is another 'feel good' program to make gullible AmeriKans think this is still a great country.