NASA unveils its next-generation spacecraft

Nasa has revealed its next generation of manned spacecraft, expected to take astronauts to the Moon or even Mars.

The American space agency has handed the multi-billion dollar contract for the building of the Orion – whose resemblance to Nasa’s famed 1960s capsules has led to it being dubbed “Apollo on steroids” – to Lockheed Martin.

The decision, announced late yesterday, leaves Boeing and its partner Northrop Grumman out in the cold – much to their chagrin, as they were the companies which built the original Apollo vehicles which ferried astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

Experts likened this new phase of exploration to the pioneers of the US Wild West, suggesting that there would no longer be brief visits to space and that astronauts would learn to “live off the land”.

Lockheed Martin, which until now has specialised in building unmanned spacecraft, will produce a now reuseable capsule that, like the Apollo and earlier spacecraft, is perched on top of the rocket rather than riding piggyback beside it. The cost is estimated at $7.5 billion.

Nasa last awarded a manned spaceship contract to Lockheed Martin in 1996, for a space plane supposed to replace the space shuttle. It spent $912 million but the ship, called X-33, never got built because of technical problems.

Orion will be much larger than Apollo, but will have the emergency escape tower which was also built on its predecessor of sorts. Once in space the capsule will be flanked by two large, circular solar panels.

The first prototype will carry up to six astronauts to the International Space Station, while a later version could take four astronauts to the moon where they would use a separate lander ship to reach the surface.

Orion may even serve as a “crew-return” vehicle for ships which might take astronauts to Mars.

The current shuttle fleet will be grounded in 2010 and Orion is scheduled to make its first human flight by 2014.

New booster rockets, based on space shuttle technology, are also being developed to launch Orion and its cargo to the Moon.

“We feel we have an achievable design,” said Doug Cooke, a deputy associate administrator at Nasa.

“This is a design that is based on known capabilities. We know that this can be built so there are some differences there, perhaps.”

Although all of Nasa’s 10 centres will provide engineering support on Orion, the majority of the work will be at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and final assembly will be completed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Scott Horowitz, Nasa associate administrator, said: “Space is no longer going to be a destination that we visit briefly. We’re going to learn to live off the land like the pioneers did.”

President Bush has proposed a massive exploration plan which would put astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972, with plans for a home base.

Orion is just part of an exploration programme called Constellation, that includes the Ares I and V rockets that will power the Orion capsule and a cargo vehicle into orbit and beyond. Mission controllers hope to cut the risk of a fatal accident to astronauts by a factor of ten, from the current 1:200 for the shuttle to 1:2,000 for the new Constellation programme.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2338751,00.html