At 7:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, the unmanned Orion test capsule will be launched into space on a commercial rocket, orbit the Earth twice and then re-enter Earth punctuating the trip with a splash landing in the Pacific Ocean, according to NPR.
Orion, shaped like the Apollo capsule sitting in the Smithsonian, is designed for deep space missions, but its virgin voyage will explore the area around the moon once again. The mission is to use a robot to capture a small asteroid and to drag the asteroid back into the moon's orbit. Orion will then bring four astronauts to the orbiting asteroid sometime around the year 2020.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told NPR that he isn't surprised that Orion hasn't gained that much publicity. "Back in March of 1969, if you asked somebody about America's space program, they may have said, 'I think we've got this Apollo thing,' or something like that," he said.
Bolden told NPR that he hopes America will take notice as they did when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins returned to Earth from the first visit to the moon.
Orion's shape is very different from the more recent space shuttle, which was retired in 2011, according to NPR. "Winged vehicles are very, very difficult to design and build and operate," Bolden said.
Orion's shape can withstand the speed and heat of re-entry. "I am told by all my aerodynamics friends and my rocket friends that the conical shape is the best shape for us," Bolden told NPR.
Critics say that NASA's mission plan is unorganized and does not have a set goal. Billions have been spent on the Orion capsule and the rocket that will carry it, called the Space Launch System, according to NPR. Mars is supposed to be the eventual destination, but differing short-term plans have been set. President Barack Obama set the current asteroid mission, but President George W. Bush wanted to revisit the moon.
NASA has a limited budget, so test runs can only occur once every few years, according to NPR, and a Mars mission would require a large crew and a budget for a habitat module.
"It's a building-block approach," Program Manager for Orion Mark Geyer told NPR, "and Orion's the beginning of that."
