The Orion spacecrafts almost flawless debut flight set the stage for the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations next challenge: finding the funding to carry humans to Mars in the 2030s. <\/p>\n
The Apollo-like capsule orbited Earth twice yesterday to test critical functions, a 4 1\/2-hour trip for the first U.S. vehicle built to transport humans to space since the shuttle in 1981. Now NASA must find political allies to keep championing a program that has already cost $7.4 billion. <\/p>\n
The voyage, less than two months after a pair of disasters stunned the commercial space industry, helps bolster NASAs case for its biggest-ever expedition. Spending over 20 years for a Mars mission would dwarf outlays for the $100 billion International Space Station, the most expensive structure ever built. <\/p>\n
We have a new Congress in January -- lets see what happens, said Henry Hertzfeld, research professor of space policy and international affairs at George Washington University. At the very least, anytime you have a success like that on something new, its great. <\/p>\n
The NASA exploration budget that finances Orion and a new heavy-lift rocket is one of the few non-defense budget accounts for which House Republicans have proposed an increase from President Barack Obamas request for fiscal 2015, said Brian Friel, a government fiscal analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. <\/p>\n
Spending would rise 5 percent to $4.17 billion under the House bill, while the Senate proposes a 10 percent increase to $4.37 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest beneficiaries from more spending would be Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), which manufactured the Orion, and Boeing Co. (BA), the contractors co-owner of the venture building the new rocket. <\/p>\n
Orion is the first spaceship developed to carry humans beyond the moon, and later versions will be fine-tuned to travel to asteroids next decade and to Mars in the 2030s. NASA is targeting an Orion trip with astronauts by 2021. <\/p>\n
While Orion was among the top trending topics worldwide on Twitter.com, NASAs new ambitions are unfolding amid a federal budget squeeze and the short attention spans of the social-media era, not the race-for-the-moon competition of the Cold War. <\/p>\n
At Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where a Delta IV Heavy rocket carried Orion aloft, some of the weather-worn buildings displayed faded signs from news organizations that once camped out to chronicle the Apollo program. They were a reminder that interest in NASA diminished after the U.S. won the race to the moon. <\/p>\n
The White House called the trial an important step, and Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, whose state is home to NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement: This is the beginning of an historic advancement in space. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
View post:<\/p>\n
NASAs Orion Conquers Orbital Test as U.S. Budget Debate Looms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Orion spacecrafts almost flawless debut flight set the stage for the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations next challenge: finding the funding to carry humans to Mars in the 2030s. The Apollo-like capsule orbited Earth twice yesterday to test critical functions, a 4 1\/2-hour trip for the first U.S Continue reading