NASA ships a capsule
In what appears to me to be a overwrought attempt to make the minor shipment of one Orion capsule appear to be a major achievement, NASA on Monday transported the next Orion capsule from Louisiana to Florida.
They used the NASA’s Super Guppy cargo plane to do it, even though I suspect that the capsule really isn’t that large and could have likely been shipped by road in a truck for a lot less. The agency also apparently made a big deal about this shipment with the press, which like sheep went along with it.
The pictures here illustrate what I mean. I grant that the Super Guppy is a cool plane, and it is certainly fun to see how it is loaded and flies, but from a cost perspective this seems to be a very expensive way to transport the capsule.
As a result, the impression this all leaves me with is that NASA is really not doing very much with Orion, working at a snail’s pace to stretch out the payments, and thus has to sell every little thing to convince the public that this project is accomplishing a lot.
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In what appears to me to be a overwrought attempt to make the minor shipment of one Orion capsule appear to be a major achievement, NASA on Monday transported the next Orion capsule from Louisiana to Florida.
They used the NASA’s Super Guppy cargo plane to do it, even though I suspect that the capsule really isn’t that large and could have likely been shipped by road in a truck for a lot less. The agency also apparently made a big deal about this shipment with the press, which like sheep went along with it.
The pictures here illustrate what I mean. I grant that the Super Guppy is a cool plane, and it is certainly fun to see how it is loaded and flies, but from a cost perspective this seems to be a very expensive way to transport the capsule.
As a result, the impression this all leaves me with is that NASA is really not doing very much with Orion, working at a snail’s pace to stretch out the payments, and thus has to sell every little thing to convince the public that this project is accomplishing a lot.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
To be fair, wasn’t the Galileo probe’s antenna damaged because it was transported by truck rather than by airplane?
I don’t remember the cause of the damage to Galileo’s antenna, but even assuming you are right, that damage wasn’t the generic fault of truck transport, it was the fault of the specific circumstances of that shipment.
Plenty of very very very delicate goods are shipped by truck or train all the time. NASA pushes for doing things the most expensive way ever to convince Congress to give them lots of cash. They also push the meme that everything related to space exploration, no matter how trivial, is difficult and complicated and only special people (who work at NASA) can do it for the same reasons.
Launching a rocket safely and reliably is without doubt a challenge. Shipping a capsule from Louisiana to Florida is not. And that NASA tries to make it look like it is says more about their wasteful, inefficient methods than it does about the job itself.
Calvin,
Spaceflight hardware is packaged very carefully so that it can be transported safely by the means available, although I have only transported entire spacecraft, by truck, less than 100 miles each trip. I have found the following link that describes Galileo’s main antenna failure as a deployment failure, not a transportation problem. If the root cause was during transportation, then the antenna or spacecraft was not packaged properly. (I have written a few packaging procedures in my time.)
http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/people/sar049/galileo/galileo.html
“Unlike on previous spacecraft, the Galileo high-gain antenna was not a rigid structure. Instead, it was designed to unfurl, like an umbrella, once the spacecraft was safely en route to Jupiter. Unfortunately, the straps holding the folded antenna in place failed to respond to commands, and despite several ingenious attempts to open the antenna, it remained stuck in a partly unfurled state.”
Since NASA is obviously not in a rush for the Orion capsule, as launch on EM-1 is not for another 32 months, the capsule could have been transported by barge or ship. The Michoud Assembly Facility is on the water. Since the 5 meter diameter of the spacecraft is twice the size of the oversize load threshold, water transport would have saved the traffic problems involved in taking up two lanes all the way from New Orleans to Kennedy.
On the other hand, the Super Guppy may need to get some exercise every once in a while, like a car does, so the extra cost may have been a little less than we think.
As Edward stated, there are issues with transporting the packaged Orion pressure vessel over the roadways, due to the packaging size for the most part. Shipping by barge is an option, but it is slower and entails some risks that air freight doesn’t. Then again, air transport is not universally safe, either. The Guppy moves it faster and with less hassle, that’s all this was.