Orion Spacecraft Launching Right Now

Thargor

Liveblog and stream here:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2014/dec/05/nasas-orion-launch-second-attempt-at-crew-capsule-takeoff-live

This is the first flight of the craft that will take humans to Mars in about 20 years time, it got delayed yesterday by faulty fuel valves but everything looks good to go today. Launching @ 12:05 pm GMT.

Thargor

Alternative stream if that one isnt working, might be better to watch this one:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VIGdqme6jqM

iDave

Have feminists had a chance to approve the attire of all those involved?

Thargor

5 minutes, looking good.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Aah, there it goes! Probably another Hollywood style fake. Good CGA though. Very realistic.

longshanks

Go on ya good thing?

It looks like flying crayons.

catallus

Seems to be going well

Don Kedick

I don't want to go to mars.

catallus

14'000 miles an hour !!!!

Don Kedick

Is watching this thing like when you were a kid and you had coke bottle races down the river. You kept following to see who'd win and encourage it as it avoids obsticles.

Summer wind

Ah there's nothing more exciting than science. You get all the fun of sitting still being quite, writing down numbers and paying attention. Yes science has it all.

Duggy747

The first step to getting our asses to Mars.

I bloody hope I'm still alive in 20 years to see that lucky person put the first step down on it's surface.

Karl Stein

Sending humans to Mars would be a huge waste of resources - we have perfectly capable rover technology out there that costs a fraction of the price.

To Europa.

Europa is thought to have twice as much water as does Earth. This moon intrigues astrobiologists because of its potential for having a "habitable zone." Life forms have been found thriving near subterranean volcanoes on Earth and in other extreme locations that may be analogues to what may exist on Europa.

nasa.gov

anncoates

Karl Stein wrote: »

Sending humans to Mars would be a huge waste of resources - we have perfectly capable rover technology out there that cost a fraction of the price.

To Europa.

Oh man, wonder if we'll ever know?

The Backwards Man

Karl Stein wrote: »

Sending humans to Mars would be a huge waste of resources

Depends who they send.

Robbo

Karl Stein wrote: »

Sending humans to Mars would be a huge waste of resources - we have perfectly capable rover technology out there that costs a fraction of the price.

To Europa.

Sinn Fein and UKIP riding high in the polls, I'd say there'll be a fair amount of Europaskepticism out there.

Karl Stein

I'm a Europtimist myself. Wouldn't it be incredibly exciting if we were able to send a probe to Europa to drill down through the ice to take a look?

Iwasfrozen

I would love to know if there's life on Europa. Unfortunately I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime

I think a big problem is the threat of forward contamination before we send a probe to Europa we need to be absolutely certain there's no terrestrial life anywhere on it.

Otherwise we risk destroying the first extra terrestrial ecosystem we come across.

Trine

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Otherwise we risk destroying the first extra terrestrial ecosystem we come across.

So what? I say we nuke the entire site from orbit.

catallus

Trine wrote: »

So what? I say we nuke the entire site from orbit.

Not so fast; we'd have to mine the shít out of it first, surely!?

Iwasfrozen

Trine wrote: »

So what? I say we nuke the entire site from orbit.

Humanity, Fúck Yeah!

iDave

catallus wrote: »

Not so fast; we'd have to mine the shít out of it first, surely!?

and hunt any life for sport.

Karl Stein

Footage here of the Orion capsule bombing it through the sky and parachuting to splashdown a few hundred miles off the Coast of California in the Pacific.

JupiterKid

This is a pretty important test flight. Orion will take humans out of low Earth orbit for the first time in over 40 years. Back to the Moon and perhaps on to Mars.

Karl Stein

And now for something completely unrelated to Christmas (except that NASA released this video today).