Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 5 July 2019
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – A test version of NASA’s Orion deep space capsule soared skywards during an absolutely stunning sunrise blastoff Tuesday morning July 2 on a critical in-flight test of the Launch Abort System (LAS) to save astronauts lives in the event of an sudden catastrophic failure of the rocket thrusting to space.
The successful Ascent Abort-2 (AA2) mission used used a fully functional Launch Abort System (LAS) tower bolted atop a test version of NASA’s Orion capsule slated to send astronauts to deep space including the Moon and Mars as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
AA-2 is the last Orion test flight prior to the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the Moon and back targeted for late 2020 or 2021.
Liftoff of the AA2 mission took place right on time at 7 a.m. EDT July 2 from Launch Complex 46 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at the opening of the 4 hour long launch window atop a retired and refurbished Peacekeeper ICBM 1st stage nuclear missile motor.
It was a literally once in a lifetime chance to see a completely different type of rocket launch not targeting orbit.
Enjoy our photos of the AA2 test flight on site at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Jetty Park by myself and colleague Jean Wright.
Check back as the gallery grows.
The launch vehicle stack stands 93 feet (28 meters) tall and consists of a mock Orion capsule atop a retired and modified Peacekeeper ICBM 1st stage motor certified and procured through the U.S. Air Force and built by Northrop Grumman with the Launch Abort System (LAS) tower bolted on top and built by prime contractor Lockheed Martin with a jettison motor provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The sunrise launch was spectacularly beautiful under sunny conditions that were about as good as one could have hoped for midsummer in Florida – accompanied by a completely clear view of the entire test sequence which was short as intended and lasted approximately 3 minutes.
The
LAS is equipped with three different types of motors to pull the capsule away, flip
it around and jettison the tower to deploy it and everything appeared to
function as designed.
The sequence below shows that LAS abort sequence in real time utilizing
all 3 motors firing in this simulated emergency to save the crew had they been
aboard
The LAS is a puller abort system like Apollo and Soyuz
The 22,000 pound Orion test spacecraft traveled
to an altitude of about six miles (31,000 ft, 9800 m) powered by the 400,000
pound thrust Peacekeeper stage “at which point it experienced high-stress
aerodynamic conditions expected during ascent” to simulate the conditions of
maximum aerodynamic pressure or ‘Max-Q’ it will experience during launch on
NASA’s mammoth Space Launch System (SLS)
rocket.
The abort sequence was automatically triggered at
T + 50 seconds as the vehicle was speeding skywards traveling at Mach 1.3. Within
milliseconds, the abort motor on the LAS tower fired to pull the crew module
away from the rocket as would happen during a true launch emergency to save the
astronauts lives and avoid catastrophe.
Then the LAS attitude control motor flipped the
capsule end-over-end to properly orient it, and then the jettison motor fired,
releasing the crew module for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean some 7 miles or
so off shore three minutes later.
The Orion test capsule crashed into the ocean at
over 300 MPH since there were no parachutes included in this test to carry out
a soft splashdown since there were no astronauts aboard.
See our Space UpClose photos documenting the
entire action-packed sequences.
Ken was onsite at the Kennedy Space Center for live coverage of NASA’s Orion Ascent Abort-2 test launch.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s upcoming outreach events:
Jul 15/16/17: Quality Inn Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, FL, evenings. Learn more about the upcoming/recent NASA Orion Ascent-2 Abort test Falcon Heavy, NASA 2024 Moon landing goal, SpaceX Starlink-1, SpaceX Falcon 9/CRS-17 launch to ISS, SpaceX Demo-1 launch/test failure, SpaceX Beresheet launch, NASA missions, ULA Atlas & Delta launches, Northrop Grumman Antares, SpySats and more
Credit:
Jean Wright/Space UpClose
|
Credit:
Jean Wright/Space UpClose
|
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