With President Barack Obama taking the oath of office to begin his second term today, it kicks off four more years for NASA to pursue its audacious goal of sending astronauts farther into deep space than ever before. <\/p>\n
Two major pieces of NASA's deep-space exploration program full-size replicas of the agency's new Orion space capsule and Mars rover Curiosity will make an appearance during Obama's inaugural parade today (Jan. 21). <\/p>\n
NASA's \"Mohawk Guy\" Bobak Ferdowsi, a Curiosity flight director renowned for his hairstyle, will also march in the parade, and has promiseda new hairdo to mark the event. Several NASA astronauts, including Michael Massimino the agency's most followed space man on Twitter (@Astro_Mike) will appear in the parade, too. <\/p>\n
In his first term as president, Obama canceled NASA's moon-oriented Constellation program and directed the space agency to pursue a new vision of deep-space exploration, a program that aims to send the firstmanned mission to an asteroid by 2025. By the mid-2030s, the target is Mars. <\/p>\n
Obama unveiled the space exploration vision in April 2010 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. A year later, NASA's space shuttle program already winding down by the time Obama first took office flew its final missions. In 2012, the iconic winged space planes were delivered to museums across the country. [NASA Photos: Obama's 2nd Inauguration] <\/p>\n
At the same time, NASA was busy developing a new spacecraft for deep-space exploration, theOrion space capsule, as well as a giant rocket called the Space Launch System to boost the capsule off the planet. The agency is developing another craft, theSpace Exploration Vehicle, designed to make the trip to a near-Earth asteroid or other deep-space destination. <\/p>\n
Here's a look at NASA's human spaceflight projects that will be under way during Obama's second term: <\/p>\n
Deep space exploration <\/p>\n
Construction has already begun on NASA's first Orion space capsule to fly and will continue throughout this year. That prototype is expected to launch unmanned atop an existing Delta 4 Heavy rocket in 2014 for an initial test. A more ambitious unmanned test flight around the moon is planned for 2017, when an Orion capsule will make an unmanned trip around the moon after launching on the first Space Launch System booster. <\/p>\n
The first operational flights of the complete Orion and Space Launch System designs are expected by 2021. By that time, Obama's second term will have been over for several years. [Curiosity Rover Rolls In Inauguration Parade (Video)] <\/p>\n
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With Obama Inauguration, NASA's Deep-Space Mission Continues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With President Barack Obama taking the oath of office to begin his second term today, it kicks off four more years for NASA to pursue its audacious goal of sending astronauts farther into deep space than ever before. Continue reading