Orion launch 4th Dec 1205pm

Streets_of Rage 2 Come_On

HD vid and pics

http: // www .extremetech.com/extreme/195517-orions-first-space-flight-now-in-high-res-photos-and-videos

Capt'n Midnight

India are developing a crew module too.

But they won't be flight testing it until ... wait for it ... Thursday :cool:


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Isro-to-test-GSLV-Mk-III-crew-module-on-December-18/articleshow/45444522.cms

Somanath said that 325 seconds after the lift off, the crew module — made of aluminium alloy and with a lift-off mass of 3,735kg — will separate from the rocket at an altitude of 126km. Three different types of parachutes tested at facilities in Chandigarh and at Sriharikota by dropping them from a helicopter will be deployed during the descent. About 1,280 seconds after the launch the module will splashdown in the Bay of Bengal at a point 600km from Port Blair. It will be recovered by the Indian Coast Guard.

Somanath said that the module has an ablative thermal protection system because during re-entry into the atmosphere, it will experience heat around 1,600 degrees C.

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30527602

The 630-tonne Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (MK III) blasted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday morning.
...
The rocket's main cargo was an Indian-made capsule capable of carrying two to three astronauts into space.

Isro said the capsule has "safely splashed down into Bay of Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands" and that the experiment was successful..

Firefox11

A cool Orion re-entry to splashdown video has been released by NASA.

Looks pretty amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibtsgAig3Yk

shedweller

Very good video! One thing i noticed was a sudden transition to a more vertical trajectory at the 4:10 mark or thereabouts. The sky gets blue suddenly after Orion turned downwards.