credit NASA / caption: 24 July 1969, the Apollo 11 command module up righting balloons can be clearly seen
It looks like NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle is going to have even more similarities with the space agency's Apollo command module. The Orion project office tells Hyperbola that come 2015 (take your pick on Orion-Ares crewed flight dates) the sea landing of the six crew International Space Station mission spacecraft will have balloons to ensure it can right itself if it flips upside down in the swell. NASA says
The system is early in design but here is the baseline:
Crew Module Up righting System consists of:
- 3-52" up righting airbags integrated in the forward bay
- Stored gas inflation system
- 24 hour up righting capability
on April 11, 2009 12:12 AM | Reply
So abandonning land landings is no longer a headline. Definitely behind the speed of internet memory. Getting back to land landings, it was seen as a much cheaper alternative to water landings because of the small city you have to send out to the middle of the ocean.
on April 11, 2009 8:00 AM | Reply
Land landings were "abandoned" some time ago and were a headline when that became public but there was discussion of an airbag system for emergency land landings, basically there was a possible ascent abort situation that could lead to a land landing. The air bags have now been deleted from the design. I'll have more on Orion soon.