Orion and SLS: Where Are They Now?

Amy Teitel
AmericaSpace.com

It’s been a little over a year since NASA announced its intention to build the Space Launch System or SLS, the rocket that will be bigger and more powerful than the Saturn V. Its payload is set to be the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Apollo-inspired capsule that is slated to take men to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids at some still-undefined point in the future. Last Wednesday, the Republican Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing to examine ongoing developments of Orion and SLS. The word from NASA is that both projects are moving forward. But schedules are starting to slip, and things will only get worse if the agency faces further budget cuts.

Testifying at the September 12 hearing were Cleon Lacefield, Vice President and Orion Program Manager from Lockheed Martin; Boeing Space Exploration Vice President and SLS Stages Program Manager Jim Chilton; NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Daniel L. Dumbacher; and Matt Mountain, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Read the full article, HERE.

Unlucky Apollo 13

April 17, 1970 - The crew of Apollo 13 has their first and only opportunity to directly survey the explosive damage to the Service Module before re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Without the Lunar Module drafted into service as a tenuous lifeboat following the oxygen tank explosion the crew would have perished. The damage sustained "It’s worth noting," writes Amy Shira Teitel, "NASA has never since launched, nor does it plan to launch, another mission designated ’13.’ AS13-59-8500 [NASA/JSC].

Amy Shira Teitel
Vintage Space

When Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970, the world wasn’t all that excited. Going to the Moon had become routine; the Vietnam war and Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles were bigger stories in America. The one aspect of the mission that did have people talking was its numeric designation: 13. Man’s greatest scientific endeavor was about to go head to head with one of its most enduring superstitions. 

Read my full article on Discovery News, HERE.