Engineering problems foiled initial uncrewed flight from Kennedy Space Centre five days earlier
It also signals a major change in direction for Nasa’s post-Apollo human space flight program, after decades focused on low-Earth orbit with space shuttles and the International Space Station.
The new moon program has enlisted commercial partners such as SpaceX and the space agencies of Europe, Canada and Japan to eventually establish a long-term lunar base of operations as a stepping stone to even more ambitious human voyages to Mars. Barring last-minute difficulties, Saturday’s countdown should end with the rocket’s four main R-25 engines and its twin solid-rocket boosters igniting to produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust, about 15 per cent more thrust the Saturn V, sending the spacecraft streaking skyward.
A top objective for the mission is to test the durability of Orion’s heat shield during re-entry as it hits Earth’s atmosphere at 39,429km/h, or 32 times the speed of sound, on its return from lunar orbit — much faster than more common re-entries of capsules returning from Earth orbit.
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