NASA's Orion spacecraft, which is designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations like Mars, is set to blast off for its first test flight December 4 at 7:05 a.m.
Orion will be launched atop a Delta IV heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37 in Florida and will not carry any people during its test flight, according to the space agency.
The test run will help engineers understand what it will be like inside the cabin as Orion travels through high radiation and extreme temperatures during this flight. Orion will travel to an altitude of 5,793.6 kms, or 15 times higher than the International Space Station.
"This is going to be a tough one. Orion will come through the atmosphere at 20,000 miles an hour as a tiny dot in the sky. With the capsule initially hundreds of miles away, it is like we are looking for it through a small soda straw," said Tom Horvath, SCIFLI principal investigator, according to NASA.
It will orbit Earth twice before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean four-and-a-half hours later to be recovered.
The SCIFLI (Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery) team, which is based at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is preparing to capture thermal snapshots of the super-hot re-entry of Orion into Earth's atmosphere after its first test flight.
"It is all about getting the aircraft positioned at the right location at a precise point in time. The action will be in the last minute. Temperatures will go from very low to up to 2,204.4 degrees Celsius," Horvath added.
The team will use a US Navy NP-3D aircraft, also called Orion, to capture pictures, according to the space agency.
There are a number of locations available for guests to watch the launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. General admission tickets are required.
Visit the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex website for more information.
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