NASA now targeting a February-to-April launch window for first manned Artemis mission
Damage to Orion’s heat shield caused during re-entry in 2022,
including “cavities resulting from the loss of large chunks”.
Nor has this issue been fixed.
According to a NASA official at an event yesterday, the agency is now targeting launch window starting on February 5, 2026 and extending into April for the first manned Artemis mission, dubbed Artemis-2, that will slingshot four astronauts around Moon and back to Earth on a 10-day-flight.
If Artemis 2 does lift off on Feb. 5, it will be at night, NASA officials said. The space agency has about five days apiece in February, March and April to launch the flight. The latest possible date is April 26, according to NASA. NASA will aim to hit the earlier part of that launch window, Hawkins said, but she stressed that crew safety will drive the timeline.
That mission will fly with an Orion capsule that has safety concerns, including a questionable heat shield (see picture above) and an untested environmental system.
Meanwhile, as part of NASA’s never-ending PR effort to sell the mission, it announced today that the mission’s four astronauts have now given their Orion capsule a name, Integrity.
The name Integrity embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success.
Considering NASA’s level of dishonesty during the entire development of SLS and Orion, the ironies of this name and these claims is quite breath-taking.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Damage to Orion’s heat shield caused during re-entry in 2022,
including “cavities resulting from the loss of large chunks”.
Nor has this issue been fixed.
According to a NASA official at an event yesterday, the agency is now targeting launch window starting on February 5, 2026 and extending into April for the first manned Artemis mission, dubbed Artemis-2, that will slingshot four astronauts around Moon and back to Earth on a 10-day-flight.
If Artemis 2 does lift off on Feb. 5, it will be at night, NASA officials said. The space agency has about five days apiece in February, March and April to launch the flight. The latest possible date is April 26, according to NASA. NASA will aim to hit the earlier part of that launch window, Hawkins said, but she stressed that crew safety will drive the timeline.
That mission will fly with an Orion capsule that has safety concerns, including a questionable heat shield (see picture above) and an untested environmental system.
Meanwhile, as part of NASA’s never-ending PR effort to sell the mission, it announced today that the mission’s four astronauts have now given their Orion capsule a name, Integrity.
The name Integrity embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success.
Considering NASA’s level of dishonesty during the entire development of SLS and Orion, the ironies of this name and these claims is quite breath-taking.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“That mission will fly with an Orion capsule that has safety concerns, including a questionable heat shield (see picture above) and an untested environmental system.”
Don’t worry, Bob – ASAP will be relentless in its scrutiny of this decision!
I’d feel safer on Orion now than any iteration on Starship.
I thought the two astronauts that flew on Starliner had stones (justifiably so), but this group ranks right up there. Even the Apollo astronauts had more flight-tested hardware than these poor souls.
I’m a firm believer in the “Safe is not an Option” perspective of folks like Rand Simberg, but this is on the ragged edge. Things like ELCSS and the heat shield would seem to be items you’d like to have “tested and approved” confidence in before strapping in and lighting up.
And Jeff, I don’t think anyone would disagree with your sentiments regarding Starship, but then again, no one is proposing to ride it yet. However, let’s revisit that discussion in 24 months and see what happens.
For heaven’s sakes, Starship is an EXPERIMENTAL vehicle trying to find the boundaries of the design while also deliberately testing off optimum performance of the vehicles.
No comparison with Orion is possible.
I wouldn’t fly on either right now but I’d ride a Falcon 9 and Dragon.
Robert Zimmerman,
Perhaps the choice of the name Integrity for their ride by the Artemis 2 crew is an example of what is said about second marriages – the triumph of hope over experience.
Richard M,
Heh.
Jeff Wright,
So would I. But that’s not to say I’d care to ride Orion at any future point either. It is, in my view, very iffy now and seems unlikely to get materially safer as time goes along. Shuttle is the appropriate comparand – dangerous from the get-go and it stayed that way.
Starship, on the other hand, will be wrung out to a fare-the-well in fairly short order and will just go on getting better and better as time goes by. Five years hence, were it not for my general state of physical decrepitude making the rigors of ascent problematical, I would not otherwise have any reservations about flying on a manned Starship.
I think the comparison of Orion to Starship is a bit like that old story about a prune-faced elderly matron confronting Winston Churchill. “You are drunk!” she accused. Churchill replied, “Yes, Madame, I am drunk. But you are ugly. And in the morning I shall be sober.”
Chuck & Mike,
Ditto – and well said.
Capsules are a bit like diving bells.
SuperHeavy is fine.
The scuttlebutt is that Starship is a mess. There was an individual (whose name escapes me) that wrote about some of the folks working on Starship.