When I first came across this I thought it was a hoax. It's not. But it might be the door to a parallel universe, in which we actually become an interplanetary civilization. Enjoy!

- John Sheff
Cambridge, MA
jsheff@comcast.net






NASA sets Orion 13 for Moon Return`
By Daniel Handlin / Chris Bergin, 10/11/2006 10:38:00 PM


© NASA
NASA has drawn up its Constellation mission manifest, which sets out the dates and full mission baselines for the test flights, International Space Station (ISS) manned and unmanned missions, plus the first flights to the moon.

The highlight of the manifest is Orion 13 - a 21 day mission, launching in December, 2019 - which will see three members of a four man crew set foot on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.


NASASpaceflight.com has exclusively obtained the fascinating manifest document and presentation for the Constellation program, including scheduling of flight events from the present through 2020.

NASA currently plans the first manned flight of the Orion CEV in September 2014 and the first human lunar return mission in approximately December 2019, shortly after a manned mission to the moon, with an unmanned descent to the lunar surface.

Below is a round-up of the main elements of what is a wealth of information into NASA's change back to exploration past Low Earth Orbit.

The manifest reflects a precise schedule for all NASA Constellation flights through the end of the next decade. Test flights will continue through 2014, with ISS missions occurring through the middle of the next decade and lunar test flights beginning in 2018.

The first test flight, called Ares 1 in the new document, is the previously known Ares I-1 test flight that will test the first stage of the CLV with four active SRM segments and an inert fifth segment an upper stage. The 2-minute flight will land in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Ares 1 flight is to be followed with a series of ascent abort tests at White Sands from 2009-2011. The AA-1 abort test will occur in May 2009 and go to transonic speeds. AA-2 is set for August 2010 and will test the maximum dynamic pressure region (max Q) on the vehicle; AA-3 in February 2011 will be an ascent abort at a non-nominal altitude, while Ascent Abort flight 4 will be in September 2011 from high altitude.

The first test of an operational Ares CLV is to occur in September 2012 and will include a 5-segement SRB and operational upper stage with 1 J-2X engine. This Ares 2 flight will carry a boilerplate CEV and LAS and be suborbital. This will be followed up by the orbital Orion 3 flight test in September 2013, which will carry the first unmanned CEV and a Launch Abort System to an ISS-inclination orbit. The mission is scheduled to last for about two weeks.

The Orion 4 flight will carry another unmanned CEV in June 2014. This dress rehearsal for the first manned mission will include rendezvous (but not docking) operations at the ISS.

The first manned CEV flight will be Orion 5 in September 2014. Carrying a crew of two, possibly to the ISS, this will also be a flight of about two weeks and will have at least a basic EVA capability. The first Orion cargo flight will occur in 2014 as well: the Orion 6 flight, carrying unpressurized cargo, is scheduled for a 90-day mission launching in December 2014.

The first operational ISS mission is Orion 7 in May 2015. This 180-day flight will be the first to test the full duration of the CEV and will carry both cargo and a crew rotation. Orion 7 will also be the first CEV with a crew of three. Orion 8, also scheduled for May 2015, and Orion 9, in July 2015, are both 30-day unmanned cargo flights to the ISS.

The next manned mission is scheduled to be Orion 10, launching in September 2015. This will be another six-month crew rotation mission with a crew of three. Orion 11 is another of the 30-day unpressurized cargo mission, with a launch date set for December 2015.

All of the Constellation flights through Orion 11 will use LC-39B and the new MLP previously described on this website.

Lunar flight tests are to begin in earnest after Orion 11. The maiden flight of the massive Ares V cargo launch vehicle, Ares V-1, is scheduled to occur in June 2018. This vehicle will use two 5-segment SRBs and an operational core stage with 5 RS-68s, but will hold ballast instead of an EDS (Earth Departure Stage).

The LSAM 2 flight in June 2019 will be the first LSAM flight and the first launch of the full Ares V vehicle with an EDS. LSAM 2 will occur in conjunction with Orion 12, a manned CEV flight with a crew of four. Orion 12 will be the first flight of the Block 2 Lunar CEV.

Orion 12 and LSAM 12 will execute a mission similar to the Apollo 10 lunar dress rehearsal. The CEV will dock with the EDS and LSAM and enter low lunar orbit (LLO). The LSAM will perform an uncrewed lunar descent and landing, and then launch to rendezvous with CEV in LLO.

The CEV crew will remain in lunar orbit during Orion 12; the CEV will be powered down to test a powerup procedure commanded from the LSAM (as will be necessary during future flights when the CEV is left unmanned in a quiescent mode).

Orion 12 will thus be the first human lunar mission since 1972 and will also the first in-space test of the LIDS docking system.

Orion 12-LSAM 2 will be a major milestone for the demonstration of the autonomous capabilities of the Constellation spacecraft, as such a complex series of maneuvers as descent, landing, ascent, and rendezvous with a manned vehicle have never been performed autonomously by one spacecraft. The flight is scheduled to last for approximately 21 days. It will also include a test of EVA transfer between the Orion and LSAM.

The first Constellation lunar landing will be LSAM 3 - Orion 13 in December 2019. It will carry a crew of three to the lunar surface in the LSAM, leaving one astronaut in the lunar orbit in the CEV. It is unclear whether this represents a shift in general policy to leaving one astronaut in the CEV during lunar sortie missions or is simply a precaution for the first lunar surface return.

Another lunar landing, LSAM 4 and Orion 14, are scheduled for June 2020, though no detailed information exists for that flight as yet. All lunar flights are initially launched to 28.5 degree orbits.

Several interesting things can be noted from this flight manifest. No further ISS flights are listed after Orion 11, which could point to the direction change towards COTS becoming the primary transportation in relation to the ISS.

The numbering of the next Orion flight in 2019 as Orion 12 implies that there are no further ISS flights planned subsequently to Orion 11, and probably reflects the US policy to exit the ISS around 2016. This also suggests that the bulk of Constellation activity and funding from 2015-2019 will consist of development of the LSAM and Ares V.

It is interesting to note that the ISS capability is being developed for relatively few operation flights. As previously reported here, NASA�s intention appears to be to build two new MLPs for Ares V. It also seems likely that NASA desires to have Complex 39A ready to support Constellation by 2018, as all flights after Orion 11 are listed as departing from either LC39A or B, in contrast to Ares 1 through Orion 11, which all launch from LC39B.

Finally, the Orion 12 and 13 crews are referred to as 'Altair Orion'. It is possible that the Altair name, originally reported by NASASpaceflight in February, thus refers to the Block 2 CEV.

December of 2019? That sounds a bit like, "I'll meet you back here in five years at 4:37pm."

Orion 13, er remember Apollo 13..... I hope they skip 13 to 12 L or something...........

That gives the President in 2010 a chance to say something along the lines of -- "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,..."

December of 2019...that doesn't exactly leave much time for the typical NASA/big gov't project schedule slippage. I think they should probably plan for a late 2017 or early 2018 lunar mission launch if they actually intend to land by the end of the next decade.

I'm also surprised to see the "leave one man in orbit" scenario. That does seem like quite a switch, perhaps its only for the first landing mission?

I think that it is time for UMSF members to debate the merits
of switching to an alternative to NASA's present architecture
for the VSE. I am a big fan of both the VSE and unmanned
Space Science and I am afriad that Mike Griffin's ESAS plan
for the VSE will hurt both efforts.
On a sibling space blog, nasaspaceflight.com, there has been
a lively debate over a new alternative to Griffin's ESAS. This
new plan is called DIRECT. It features a launch system that
is more directly derived from the Shuttle system, hence the name.
You can find details of the DIRECT Proposal at
http://directlauncher.com

The benefits of the DIRECT plan, or something similar, is that
it saves $35 Billion over the next 15 years. Those funds could
then be used for a healthy Space Science program. We then
could see missions to Europa, Titan and Enceladus, as well
as Space Telescopes designed to detect Earth-like planets
around distant Suns.
As NASA's budget plans now stand for the next decade or two,
Mike Griffin's VSE plans will gobble up an increasing fraction
of the Agency's funds. All of those fantastic missions that we
dream of, including future Mars Rovers, will remain just that - dreams.

In addition, using the DIRECT alternative, we could be sending
crews to the Moon in 2015 or 2016, instead of late 2019.

When NASA presented its VSE plans in September 2005, there
seemed to be a "take it or leave it" flavor to it. Either we accept
Griffin's VSE architecture or we have no VSE. Now, we realize
that there are viable alternatives, such as DIRECT, that truly
are Faster, Better and Cheaper.

I encourage the UMSF community to check out the DIRECT
alternative and consider contacting your Congressional delegation
about whether NASA should be pursuing a different path back to the Moon.


Another Phil

"I think that it is time for UMSF members to debate the merits
of switching to an alternative to NASA's present architecture
for the VSE."

I don't. It would be off topic for UMSF. It would be a pseudo-political debate at best, so no....that debate is not happening here. The Manned sub-form here is for occasional discussion - not political debate.

Doug

Orion 12 (aka Apollo 10 on steroids) sounds like a good opportunity to land an unmanned lunar rover as well. I have to assume that the descent stage will have provisions for cargo transport, and it sure seems like a waste not to utilize it during this mission to achieve some actual science objectives...

BTW, did anyone else find the following paragraph a bit alarming? They intend to power down the CEV intentionally with a crew onboard??? I guess it might not be too risky given that they'll be able to power-up manually if the remote command fails, but still...long way from home to be playing with critical systems like that.

"The CEV crew will remain in lunar orbit during Orion 12; the CEV will be powered down to test a powerup procedure commanded from the LSAM (as will be necessary during future flights when the CEV is left unmanned in a quiescent mode)."

Is there a good reference for the acronyms? I know (or can guess) about half of them, but that's not quite enough . . .

For a bunch of acronyms appearing together in a paragragh or article, try entering all the acronyms together in a google search. I.e. (and e.g.), JFGI!

One comment please,
I was 8 years old in 1968 and at a drive in Movie Theater I saw 2001 space oddesy.nasa has spent billions on crewed and uncrewed space flight. Lot of it on space craft design and re design and on and on. Remember space shuttle? Remember Galileo? Remember the reusable space craft of the last decade?
indeed that other forum is exciting but the endless talk of launcher design can be tiresom leave it over there.
lets focus on our forums short commings instead.................................
we have no forum on Astronomical space craft such as hubble and spicker or its progeneaters.we could draw in alot of people with a forum such as this..................

Why do you think UMSF is how it is?

It's precisely because I WILL NOT allow that sort of discussion here, I don't WANT a lot of people here. It's like the old saying at the Brooklands race track - "The right crowd, and no crowding"

The scope of UMSF is overly large as it is...it's certainly not going to grow.

Doug

For a very extensive set of forums and posted news, and (for $) a very large online repository of documents and videos related to manned and some unmanned spaceflight, visit:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/

Here's an ascii'ized listing of their forum's (top level)
NASASpaceflight L2
Subscription based service. Breaking insider news and documents. Space Flight L2: Shuttle, ISS and current vehicles
Space Flight L2: Constellation and Future
Second section dedicated to the vast array of CLV, CEV, CaLV and EELV alternatives - plus advanced concepts in-works. Information, documents, videos etc. Available to L2 members.

General discussion
All things Space Flight related.
Live Space Flight News Feed
The latest space flight-related news from around the world. URL's only.
Space Radiation Hazards and the Vis...
Historical Spaceflight
Missions that were, or will never be.
Advanced Concepts
NEW: In-works and future conceptual ideas of space flight, from Nuclear Propulsion to Tethers and beyond.
Video Vault

NSF Video Collection
Available to all registered users of the forum. Sign up for free to access.

NASA Shuttle Specific Forum
Discovery (STS-116)
Shuttle Discovery news and updates for STS-116, set for December (could slip).
Atlantis (STS-117)
News and updates on Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) - next mission STS-117.
Endeavour (STS-118)
News and updates on Shuttle Endeavour (OV-105) - as she prepares to join her two sisters in returning the fleet to launch status. Assigned to STS-118, in 2007, preps for LON Support STS-318.

NASA CEV / CLV / CaLV / MTV
ORION (CEV) / ARES I (CLV)
News and updates of the replacement for the Space Shuttle - the ORION (Crew Exploration Vehicle) and the ARES I (Crew Launch Vehicle).
ARES V (CaLV) / MTV (Mars)
News, images and updates on the ARES V (CaLV) and Mars Transport Vehicle (MTV)

General Space Flight (Atlas, Delta, ESA, Russian)
US Launchers - Atlas, Delta, Pegasus
Updates and launch coverage of the US unmanned launches.
Russian Launchers - Soyuz, Progress, Kliper
Updates and launch coverage of Russian launches.
ESA Launchers - Ariane, ATV, Vega
Updates and launch coverage of the European/ESA unmanned launches.
Private Launchers - SpaceX, Virgin, Etc.
Updates and launch coverage of Private Space Venture launches.
Other Launches (Chinese, Japanese, Probes)
All other launch coverage and updates on space probes.

International Space Station (ISS)
ISS Status update
For all the latest news and status of the ISS

THERE ARE PLACES LIKE THIS ON THE NET FOR THESE TYPES OF DISCUSSIONS AND THE POLITICS INVOLVED. WE'VE LOST VALUABLE MEMBERS HERE BECAUSE THEY INSISTED IN BRINGING IT HERE AND GETTING INTO HIGH-ANIMOSITY DISCUSSIONS DESPITE REPEATED WARNINGS. As Doug says, and he's the boss: NOT HERE.

(We have no forum on Astronomical space craft such as Hubble and spicker.......................... )
That’s not what I meant was proposing a telescope in space section but my bad we do have one already