NASA astronauts to fly Orion spacecraft into deep space

computerworld.com

1 point·erickhill··4 comments

Another article with prettier pictures:

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/05/nasa-unveils-ne.php

I suppose that at the very least this new design solves the "looks too much like Apollo" problem of the old Orion.

Other weirdness: given that it's supposedly designed for "deep space", why does the design spec only call for it to support astronauts for "up to 21 days"? Heck, even Gemini 7 lasted nearly 14 days, and that was with two people in a capsule smaller than a fat guy's pants.

Also, do we have a rocket to launch this thing yet? Wasn't Ares cancelled? What do we stick it on?

Anyone keen on a longbet that SpaceX still beats them there?

This sounds like bad news for SpaceX. Apparently NASA has decided (no doubt under pressure from the senators for whatever-states-these-things-get-built-in) to go back to building its own manned capsules. For a while it looked like they were going to subcontract the basic put-dude-in-orbit missions to SpaceX, but I guess not.

NASA has a way of making things sound much lamer than they should be. Hey, y'know what's a good name for a spaceship? Dragon! Y'know what's a bad name for a spaceship? Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle!

The sad thing is that most likely, nothing will come of it. They'll be the usual "in 10-20 years" bullshit (i.e. some time way beyond the current Congressional sitting/Presidential term of office) and the whole thing will get quietly cancelled.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com