22 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
22 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Constellation program"
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chunk: 4/6
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation_program"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:41:43.933180+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
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Unlike the Apollo missions, where both the Apollo command and service module and the Apollo Lunar Module were launched together on the Saturn V rocket, the crewed Orion spacecraft would be launched separately from the uncrewed EDS and lunar lander. The Ares V/Altair stack would be assembled at the Vehicle Assembly Building and then transported to LC-39A, and the Ares M/Orion stack would be transported to the adjacent Pad 39B. The Ares V/EDS/Altair stack would be launched first, into a 220 miles (360 km) high circular orbit. Approximately 90 minutes later, the Ares I/Orion would then launch with the crew into a nearly identical orbit.
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The Orion would then rendezvous and dock with the Altair/EDS combination already in low-Earth orbit. After the necessary preparations for lunar flight, the EDS would fire for 390 seconds in a translunar injection (TLI) maneuver, accelerating the spacecraft to 25,000 miles per hour (40,200 km/h). After this burn, the EDS would be jettisoned.
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During the three-day trans-lunar coast, the four-man crew would monitor the Orion's systems, inspect their Altair spacecraft and its support equipment, and correct their flight path as necessary to allow the Altair to land at a near-polar landing site suitable for a future lunar base. Approaching the lunar far side, the Orion/Altair combination would orient the Altair's engines forward and make the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) burn.
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Once in lunar orbit, the crew would refine the trajectory and configure the Orion spacecraft for uncrewed flight, allowing all four crew members to transfer to the Altair vehicle and land on the Moon, while the Orion waits for their return. Upon receiving clearance from Mission Control, the Altair would undock from the Orion and perform an inspection maneuver, allowing ground controllers to inspect the spacecraft via live TV mounted on Orion for any visible problems that would prevent landing (on Apollo this was done by the Command Module Pilot). After receiving approval from ground controllers, the two craft would separate to a safe distance and the Altair's descent engines would fire again for powered descent to a pre-determined landing spot previously selected by uncrewed spacecraft.
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Upon landing, the crew would put on their extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits and commence the first of five to seven lunar EVAs, collecting samples and deploying experiments. After completing their Lunar Sortie operations, the crew would then enter the Altair and fire the ascent stage engine to lift off from the surface, using the descent stage as a launchpad (and leaving it as a platform for future base construction). Upon entering orbit, the Altair would rendezvous and dock with the waiting Orion spacecraft, and the crew would then transfer, along with samples collected on the Moon, back to the Orion. After jettisoning the Altair, the crew would perform the Trans Earth Injection (TEI) burn for the return trip to Earth.
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After a two-and-a-half-day coast, the crew would jettison the Service Module (allowing it to burn up in the atmosphere) and the CM would reenter the Earth's atmosphere using a special reentry trajectory designed to slow the vehicle from its speed of 25,000 miles per hour (40,200 km/h) to 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) and thus allow a Pacific Ocean splashdown. The Crew Module would then be flown back to Kennedy Space Center for refurbishment, while lunar samples would be routed to the Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Lunar Receiving Laboratory for analysis.
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=== Orion asteroid mission ===
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The Orion Asteroid Mission was a proposed NASA mission to a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) which would use the standard Orion spacecraft, and a landing module based on a modified Altair lunar lander. Most of its specific details are now deprecated by the cancellation of the Constellation Program and related designs. Such a mission could assess the potential value of water, iron, nickel, platinum and other resources on the asteroid; test possible ways to extract them; and possibly examine or develop techniques which could be used to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts. This would be the first crewed mission to any extraterrestrial body besides the Moon, and would represent a step towards a human mission to Mars.
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The mission would start in a similar fashion to the lunar landing mission described above, using an Ares V to launch the landing module into Low Earth orbit, followed by the launch of an Orion spacecraft, with a two- or three-person crew (as opposed to a four-person crew for lunar missions) on an Ares I rocket. Once the Orion spacecraft docked with the landing module and the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), the EDS would then fire again and propel the Orion spacecraft to a nearby near-Earth asteroid where the crew would then land and explore its surface.
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Once the task was completed, the Orion spacecraft would then depart from the asteroid and, upon reaching the vicinity of Earth, would jettison both the service module and the landing module in a manner similar to that of Apollo 13 before entering the atmosphere for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. |