NASA will once again be taking to the skies well after the last official shuttle mission launched from its pads in 2011 – and this one is incredibly important.
The Space Administration’s Orion will lift off on an unmanned test flight today from Cape Canaveral in Florida, and will splash down into the Pacific oceans once it has completed all the necessary tests.
Eventually, NASA hopes that Orion will be used in manned missions to go to the Moon, an asteroid and even Mars in the future. If you are interested, the payload will be lifted off by a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, which is the largest rocket available.
If you want to watch the launch, head on over to NASA TV right now, or watch the live stream below:
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
If you want to watch Orion coming down into the ocean, NASA’s remotely piloted, unmanned aircraft system Ikhana will be beaming a live video feed to the internet.
“While Ikhana loiters at 27,000 feet altitude, the infrared camera will detect the capsule. Once the camera has located and acquired the Orion module, the camera operator will switch to an optical camera that will observe Orion’s descent through parachute deployment and splashdown,” explained NASA.
[Source, Image – NASA/Bill Ingalls]
