WEBVTT - The Orion Spacecraft 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.240 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:15.000 Forward Thinking, and Welcome to Forward Thinking, the podcast that 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.360 looks at the future and says he's just a guy 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.919 made of dots and lines. I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm Lauren 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.400 foc Obon, and I'm Joe McCormick. Hey, guys, how are 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:29.159 you doing today? I'm out of this world? Oh I 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.720 see what he did there. We're talking today about Oriyan 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.199 the spacecraft. Yeah, the constellation, though someone might be led 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.240 to believe the constellation because I think you were just 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.640 talking about connecting dots and lines. Maybe that might have 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:49.479 been a song about it. Well, what is the Orion spacecraft? 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.879 Because I saw some people going nuts about it on 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.920 the internet the other day. Yeah, including coworkers. Absolutely. Well, okay, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.960 so myself, you saw yourself. It was an out of 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.480 body experience. Um yeah. Yeah. On on Friday December at 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.720 seven oh five a m. The Orion Exploration Flight Test 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:15.840 one launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Yeah. 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.280 This was an important step in a very long and 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.680 winding Uh. Well, I would say road, but really, spacecraft 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.360 don't take those that often well, in this particular test 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.280 flight was not a very long and winding road, was it, 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.360 I mean where it didn't go out to Jupiter or something. Uh? No, 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.240 it circled the Earth twice uh and then splashed down 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.600 the Pacific Ocean off the coast Baja California at a 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.960 mirror four hours later at nine am at Eastern Standard time. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.520 So I was so excited to watch that I was 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.680 actually watching it live streaming. I was feigning my ignorance, 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.080 I was. I was sadly I was talking about it 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.800 on camera without being able to actually watch it. I 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.480 knew that I knew it had been successfully launched, but 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.440 I had not been able to actually watch it. That's 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.920 the that's the futurist equivalent of being a sad clown. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.559 Isn't it talking about you can't watch the present because 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:08.840 you're talking about the future. Yeah, that was you know, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:10.840 that was kind of where I was going with that. Um. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.520 I also like to have my portrait on on velvet thing. 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.400 I like, Well, anyway, this test flight I thought was 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.400 really inspiring and exciting. And you might be asking, what's 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.040 the big deal? They were just flying some space vehicle. 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.800 Wasn't like there was anybody in it. Right, Well, to 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:30.520 know what the big deal is, you got to know 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.840 some history. So so we got to back up and 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.680 then we'll get to the big deal. Right. So December nineteenth, 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.040 nineteen seventy two, was a momentous day, an important day 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.920 in the world's space exploration work. It was the day 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:51.040 when the Apollo seventeen spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific. Now, 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.200 this marked the end of a mission that sent astronauts 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.440 to the Moon. Those astronauts being John Young, Charles Duke Jr. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:04.239 And Stewart Russa. And they were the last human beings 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.919 to ever go beyond low Earth orbit. That's right, So 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.280 not just the last human beings to go to the 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.600 Moon so far, but the last to go more than 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.079 a few hundred miles beyond the surface of the Earth. Well, 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.919 let's talk about what low Earth orbit means, because there's 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.720 there's it's terminology that isn't I mean, like orbit is 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.799 pretty high, right, And and also just the fact that 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:31.000 you know, things like definitions like space outer space, where 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.400 does that begin? They all get a little fuzzy because 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.240 there's not like a you know, there's not like a sign. 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.880 And if do you pass a certain point, the science 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:42.080 has welcome to outer space. But but these are the 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:46.040 designations we have given specific areas of orbit around the Earth. 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.720 So low Eer the orbit, that's where a lot of 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.000 our space stuff is, Like the International Space Station, the 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.960 Hubble Space Telescope, these are all in low Earth orbit. 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.440 They're not further out, and that ends at about two 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.760 thousand kilometers out from the US of the Earth, so 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.280 one thousand, two hundred forty three point seven miles. I 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.720 always forget how close exactly the International Space Station really is. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.200 It's it's only a mirror like four hundred and thirty 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.600 one kilometers a k a. Two hundred and sixty eight 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.839 miles above the surface of the area. Yeah, it's close 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.040 enough where you can actually see it when it passes overhead. Yeah, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.040 it's very close. Especially it is zoomed out view. If 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.720 you were to step way back from the Earth and look, 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.280 it's sort of like in the upper sky. Yeah, it's 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.440 pretty amazing that how close it is relatively speaking. Next, 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.240 that we have the medium Earth orbit, because if you 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.240 have lowerth orbit, there's got to be something else, right, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.600 There's gotta be some other designation. Medium Earth orbit extends 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.520 out to thirty five thousand, seven six kilometers or twenty 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.720 two thousand, two hundred thirty six miles. So from two 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.599 thousand kilometers to thirty five thousand, seven six that's medium 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.600 Earth orbit. We're talking about a much larger area than 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.240 lowerth orbit, right, and you're gonna notice that every time 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.760 we go a little further out the actual area that 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.640 we designate gets larger. So is this where you would 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.479 find geosynchronous satellites exactly? This is where satellites that are 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.200 in geosynchronous orbit inhabit, and those were placed there by 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.920 unmanned missions. It's not like we flew some spacecraft out there, 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.320 astronauts popped out plopped to satellite into geosynchronous orbits. That 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.720 all right, good work, boys, let's go on home, clock out. 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.880 That's not the way that works. Uh. Further out from 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.919 there you have high Earth orbit, which goes way way 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.560 out where you know, including things like the Moon, which 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.640 is three hundred eighty four thousand, four hundred kilometers or 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.080 two nine hundred miles away from the surface of the Earth. 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.320 So that's you know, a really good johnt. And like 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.080 we said, space Shuttle program only stayed in lower th orbit. 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.839 Never went beyond it. Only twenty four human beings have 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.920 ever been beyond lowerth orbit, and those are the people 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.680 who are in the Apollo program. Now, this is kind 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.800 of weird if you were a space enthusiast and you 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.800 don't often consider the fact, but it has been more 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.520 than forty years since humans went beyond I think the 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.400 farthest they've been since the end of the Apollo program 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.280 was to service the Hubble Space Telescope. I think you 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.400 might be right on that. I could be wrong if 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.920 you're a NASA geek out there with awesome knowledge about 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.600 anybody went a little bit farther than that. But definitely, 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.960 no one's been beyond low Earth orbit. Right, we have 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.919 stayed really really close to the surface of the Earth 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.560 for more than forty years humans have. Yeah, yeah, and 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.640 and the question yeah, of course. We meanwhile have Voyager 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.840 leaving the Solar System. So it took us like six 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.320 or seven tries to say, okay, voyagers left the Solars. 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:45.000 Wait wait, wait, wait, alright now, now Voyager left the 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.839 Solar System two years ago, right, exactly the part right, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.240 the best part. I was like, Okay, we can now 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.240 confirm for a fact that two years ago. But the 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.200 interesting thing to me is that imagine that, you know, 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.000 we're none of us were alive when the Apollo mission 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.760 went to the Moon. Even even me, despite what you're 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.880 going to hear in a future podcast, I was not 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.040 alive in nineteen seventy two. But can you imagine if 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.880 you were alive during that era where we were sending 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.760 missions to the Moon, and sent multiple missions to the Moon, 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.440 that would you imagine that for the next four decades 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.400 we wouldn't send anyone further out. That seems like that 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.239 was going backward. Yeah, it's like we've retreated from battle 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:31.560 with space. Yea space space right, space slapped us around 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:32.880 a little bit, and we said, you know what, we 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:34.960 need to figure this out before we try it again. 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.880 And uh, you know, there are definitely conversations to have, 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:42.600 like whether or not manned space exploration is a real 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.320 benefit compared to something like the robotics approach. All those 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.080 conversations we have had multiple times on this podcast. We 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.560 just want to talk about the new approach until once 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.200 again go beyond low Earth orbit. And that's what the 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.600 Orion spacecraft is all about. Right, So the big deal 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.840 is this is how human beings are going to get 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.920 way the heck out there in the future, at least 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.520 the ones who are going on NASA's time. Right, Yeah, 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.320 it's this and listening to Timothy Leary, So the as 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.679 an overview of the Orion Crew Vehicle project, you actually 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.680 need to go back a little bit too, because it 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.560 kind of evolved over time. So in the mid two thousand's, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.440 that's when NASA unveiled a proposal for a continued human 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:30.600 exploration of space, originally called the Vision for Space Exploration. Uh, 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.920 this was a big thing during George W. Bush's administration. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:38.800 It was really inspiring. It was this very ambitious plan, 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.440 and then there was a change of leadership at NASA 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.000 and it became even more ambitious. It became it was 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.800 renamed into the Constellation Project, and as a part of 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.520 that renaming, they also decided to rename the the Crew 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:59.280 Exploration Vehicle and call it Orian Exploration Vehicle. I I 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.080 don't believe we said, but that was the name that 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.800 the shuttle was going to have. Yeah, well his name, 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.360 thank yeah, so, but exactly that's what it was going 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.040 to be, the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Now it's called Orian. Uh. 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:16.280 And and because again Orian was also a constellation apart 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.920 from the place in mythology, and plans were that it 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.000 would fly by two thousand fourteen, at least in tests, 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.600 which turns out actually came to pass despite a lot 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.960 of changes in the program. So originally, before the Orion 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:32.560 was going to be built, there was going to be 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:37.080 another space vehicle called the orbital space plane. And before 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.360 that there was going to be any different space vehicle 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.320 that was unnamed, but it was going to be built 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.840 by lockeed Martin. There was going to be a suborbital 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.920 space plane. So those were more like direct Shuttle replacements 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.560 than a deep space spacecraft. So just to clarify, I 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.720 think what you said is pretty good, But can you 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.880 clarify the difference between a spacecraft and a space plane. Sure, 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:02.880 space plane tends to be suborbital or very lower th orbit. Uh, 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.040 and so there's altitude only goes out so far. Maybe 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.400 as a replacement for the Shuttle program, it could also 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.440 be a delivery system for smaller craft that would be 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:17.320 piggybacking onto the suborbital plane. So you would have a 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.880 sub orbital plane takeoff, reach an extremely high altitude, and 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.160 then you would have a second launch off of the 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:27.120 plane of a smaller craft that would head into orbit, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:32.040 but those plans were scrapped uh, and the Orion was 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.880 the new approach once that had happened. So, in other words, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:42.360 there was a precedent already for planned aircraft getting canceled 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.800 before it got to the full build out stage. So 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.680 there was no guarantee that Orion wasn't going to suffer 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:53.199 the same fate. So what's the Constellation project gonna do? Well, 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:58.120 it's not gonna do anything now because well, the the 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.080 one of the many one of the one of the 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.719 many plans was that they were going to send a 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.840 return mission to the Moon by twenty uh. They were 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.240 also going to use the under the Constellation program, there 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.760 was a completion of the International Space Station planned in there. 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.719 Uh and also to extend human presence quote beyond our 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.640 Solar system end quote. That's pretty ambitious. Yeah, I don't 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.160 know if human presence necessarily means manned mission. Though human 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.160 presence maybe this was a man made object that we 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.960 sent beyond the Solar System. We're going to throw a ball, really, 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.800 unless they're working on warp drive or something, I don't 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.280 think we're going beyond the Solar system anytime soon. Right, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.520 But yeah, here's the butt. The butt is that the program, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:46.040 being incredibly ambitious, was also had problems, budgeting problems, There 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.400 were a lot of issues, are some political issues at NASA. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.600 I mean, it got kind of ugly in the mid 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:55.880 to late two thousand's and by President Obama called for 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.599 the end of the Constellation program kind of to to 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.520 scrap the program m and start fresh with a new 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:06.600 approach um, largely in light of new technologies and discoveries 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.320 that had happened since they had started planning the Constellation program. 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.079 So it's incredibly disappointing for a lot of people. Others, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.800 Like I've seen some folks comment and say they felt 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.240 that the Constellation program wasn't focused enough, and so they 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.120 kind of thought, well, it was a terrible thing to 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.760 happen to have this program scrapped, but it might have 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.200 been the right thing to do. I was not in 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.679 a place where I could comment on that one way 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:38.000 or the other. Anytime any program for science gets canceled, uh, 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.200 I get a little sad. But at any rate, the 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.360 development of the Orion vehicle continued. They decided that there 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.400 were certain elements under the Constellation program that were worthy 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.560 of of continued funding, and one of those was the 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.200 Orion spacecraft. Another was the space launch system, which will 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:00.360 be eventually what brings Orian into space, a heavy lifting rocket. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.640 For now, we're using Delta four rockets, but it'll be 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.240 a different launch system further down the line, but that 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.800 one's not ready yet at any rate. The development of 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.760 the Orion vehicle took place at the Johnson Space Center 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.760 UM and now it's called the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:23.760 the MPCV, although most people just still called Ryan and UM. So, yeah, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.640 that's that's kind of where we're at now. Like we're 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.800 at the phase now where it went through all the 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:34.080 design phase. It had been built out, and the test 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.320 that we referred to earlier took place, which proved that 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.360 the Orion systems are in fact space worthy, which is 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:46.160 pretty cool. That is super cool. Yes, yeah, it is, no, 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.520 it's it's pretty I was very excited to see this 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.800 thing tested. I was too, I remember. So it was 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.720 originally going to be launched on a Thursday morning, right, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.000 and then that Thursday morning there was some weather issues, 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.200 there were some boats. I think that we're maybe kind 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.120 of too close to the launch site that there was 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.000 there was also a technical issue with the spacecraft itself 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.800 some of the latches. They couldn't get a read on 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.080 whether the latches had disengaged properly, so they had to 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.280 they essentially had to do a control all delete on 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.240 the system. They really did reboot the system. It was 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:18.840 the It was the equivalent of turning it off and 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.280 on again. Um, And they just could not get everything 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.760 in line before the launch window closed. Because there's only 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.240 in order for them to actually do the missions they 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.720 have planned, they have to launch in very specific windows 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.320 of time, so they had to scrap it for twenty 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.200 four hours. The next launch window opened at seven oh 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.800 five a m. On Friday morning, and that's exactly when 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.160 they launched. They did not waste any time. So by 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.200 the time I went to go and shoot my video 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.040 about the Orion spacecraft, I already knew that the launch 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.480 was successful, but I did not know if the splashdown 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:54.240 would be. Yeah, we keep talking about this Orion capsule. 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.440 Let's get into what's inside of it and what makes 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.040 it go. Yeah, I was wondering how similar in the 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.240 end it's going to be to the kinds of crew 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.560 capsules we saw in the Apollo missions. Well, certainly the 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:11.240 exterior looks very similar, right, yeah, absolutely on purpose. In fact, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.840 the designers and engineers really wanted to mirror that that familiar, 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.440 kind of nostalgic design that was used in Apollo, except 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.920 you know, update it with the modern materials and technologies 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.080 that we have in our hands today, right right, So, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.280 and and I mean those some things on it are 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.840 not quite as contemporary as you would think for interesting reasons, 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:32.760 and we'll get to that later. Well, the interesting thing 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.760 to me is that, I mean the Apollo spacecraft worked. 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.760 It worked well. I mean the re entry into the 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:43.000 atmosphere like one time, it didn't well more than one time, 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.240 if we're going to be truly technical, because Apollo one 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.080 was a terrible disaster, but that was that was a 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.360 test flight that went terribly wrong. But the the the 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:56.960 design of the craft was and kind of elegant in 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:01.120 its simplicity for the issue of re entry, right, They 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.840 had a specific design that allowed it to re enter 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.360 the your's atmosphere in a specific orientation, and that was 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.040 pretty remarkable. So yeah, yeah, I should have I should 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:11.960 have also mentioned that that it wasn't just that it 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.320 you know, looked real cute. They it's also a very 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.800 effective shape for a capsule to be exactly. Yeah. So 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.120 so if you were to look at the the launch 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.080 of this, if you go back and watch the video 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.800 and you take a look and you see this rocket, 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.920 it's got this tall like tapered spire type uh cap 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.960 to it, and you're looking for the Orion spacecraft like 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:38.800 the actual module, you're gonna not see it because it's 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:40.560 actually it is kept. It's kind of think of it 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.200 like a cap of a pen. The very top of 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:49.680 the the launch system is actually a launch abort system. Now, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:53.360 this is a device that is meant to help the 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:58.480 Orion spacecraft um uh escape if something were to go 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.800 wrong at any point to the launch, even if it's 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.920 on the launch pad itself, So from the launch pad 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.119 all the way up into when the separation would happen 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.040 between the Oriyan uh, the the well, the service module 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:16.240 and the rocket. Right. So it's got its own set 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.479 of thrusters. It's actually got three different motors on it. 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.560 One is the jettison motor that's just used to jettison 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.399 the launch aboard system from the Oriyan crew module because 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.000 eventually you're gonna need to remove that cap if you 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:30.920 want to do something like, I don't know, look out 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.040 the window, because otherwise you're just gonna see the interior 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.360 of the launcherboard system cap on there. So the adjacent 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.720 motor pulls the system away from the crew module once 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.000 the two detached, when they reach the proper altitude. Then 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.080 you have the attitude control motor that allows for steering, 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.720 so if you need to steer at all um you 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.000 can use those. And then you've got the abort motor 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.520 that's specifically in the case of an emergency, which can 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:57.919 propel the module away from the launch pad or just 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.560 the launch delivery system should something really go wrong. It 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.760 can deploy in milliseconds. So as soon as a problem 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.360 is detected. And they've tested this out already, they've done 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.520 tests of the launch a board system, they can activate it. 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:14.200 The thrusters will fire and they're pretty powerful. I mean 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.480 they can propel a crew up to a height of 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.439 one mile at And this is a quote from NASA 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.840 forty two times the speed of a drag race car, 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.600 say the average speed of a drag race car. Again 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.800 Nessa's Nessa loves to use these analogies for the Ryan 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.920 spacecraft in general. They also said that it provides enough 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.320 thrust to lift twenty six elephants off the ground, But 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.840 I don't know that they actually test elephants. Elephants your 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:47.120 your average every day every every Joe elephant talking elephants. 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:51.119 A yeah. I immediately went to like, is that an 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:57.119 African or European? Of course, the African elephants are non migratory. Yeah, 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.280 we're gonna get into a whole money players something now, folks, now, 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.199 but then you're right, Um, it is interesting that it 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:07.760 has this very powerful aboard system. Well that's important because 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.040 we've seen space launches turn very tragic. Exactly. Yeah, it's 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.720 it's it's interesting that it's it's one of the elements 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.920 that NASA was very much UM stressing was an important part, 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.400 which you know, is kind of a departure from earlier 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.719 launch aboard systems which were a little more rudimentary and 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:33.600 not necessarily as effective. So UM, at any rate, once 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.760 you get to the point where it it uh detaches, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.880 that's important. You know, you can't have it on perpetually 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.560 because that cap actually covers the part of the crew 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.680 module where the parachutes would deploy, so you can't re 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.560 enter the ourt's atmosphere with that that launch aboard system on. 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.760 It has to be able to detach from the capsule 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.080 in order for you to be able to descend properly, 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.399 to have a controlled descent. Okay, I have another question. Okay, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:02.560 let's assume you're an astronaut who's incredib bleak claustrophobic. Okay, 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.000 it sounds like you've gone into the wrong profession. Not 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.160 sure how you got through training. How tighter the quarters 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.800 in the new crew module? Okay, So within the crew module, 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.000 you have three sixteen cubic feet of space to move 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.640 around in. That's about nine cubic meters. It's not a lot. Uh. 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.040 And it is a crew module that can hold up 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:27.159 to four astronauts. So with a full component crew component, 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.040 you would have four people in three sixteen cubic feet 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.240 of space. It's not a lot of space. You would 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.240 be working in pretty close quarters for quite some time. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:40.320 Remember this is a deep space space. You're going to Mars. 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:42.760 You're going to be in a space this big for 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.760 eight months better part of a year. Yeah, so that's 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.160 a long time to be hanging out in a small 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.800 room with three other people. Uh, it's they've got a 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.480 ping pong table. Yeah. So the bottom of the crew 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.199 module itself, which, by the way, if you look the 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.879 animations of Orion flying through space, you're gonna see that 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:06.879 it has this extended area that's got a thruster on 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.040 the back of it. That is the crew module and 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.920 service module together. Um. Eventually those two separate. I'll talk 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.320 about the service module more in just a second. But 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.560 when they do separate, when it's time for the crew 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:22.040 capsule to come down. Uh, that's the bottom of the 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:24.960 crew capsule is where the heat shield is. Yeah. The 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:29.760 engineers actually redeveloped Apollo's heat shield material av coat. It's 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:33.840 it's a brew of like fiberglass and plastics, and this 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.840 particular coating is on the yourrine is designed to with 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:41.000 stand temperatures up to uh some five thousand, five hundred 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.600 degrees fahrenheit. I don't have a translation for that for celsius, 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:48.359 but it's warm um and uh that would be the 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:54.080 re entry temperature for a return flight from Mars for example. Uh. 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.240 And then if you were to look at the full 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:59.480 the full component in the launch system, the bottom most 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:04.280 part part that attaches to the rocket through a an adapter, UH, 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.040 is the service module. Now the service module was built, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.600 or it will the the Finnish one will finally be 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.080 built by the Airbus Defense and Space Company. It was 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:16.200 the one that we saw in the test flight. Was 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.359 developed by the European Space Agency, so this was a 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.119 partnership between NASA and the e s A. So e 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.240 s A developed it and then they've given the contract 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.679 to Airbus Defense and Space to do the production for 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.879 the later space service modules. This is the part of 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.639 the spacecraft that can hold unpressurized cargo, so you can 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:36.359 think of it as like the cargo hold of the 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:41.000 Space Shuttle. It's similar to that. Uh. It also supplies 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:43.920 the crew with oxygen and water as long as it's 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.879 attached to the crew. Module, provides propulsion to move the 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.560 spacecraft to proper orbits and course settings, etcetera, provides thermal 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.600