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On April 30, NASA announced that one of the Orion Spacecraft will be put on display at the Virginia Air & Space Center. The spacecraft will be part of special summer exhibits at the Center. The 18,000 pound spacecraft will be delivered on May 1. This test vehicle was used in the successful test of Orion's launch abort system, Pad Abort 1 in May 2010. A pad abort would provide escape capability to protect the crews in the event of an emergency during launch or initial ascent.

The summer exhibits also include Destination Station, a hands-on exhibit that showcases and celebrates the achievements and innovative discoveries made aboard the International Space Station, an internationally-developed research facility located in Earth's lower orbit.  On Aug. 20, a full-scale model of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will be on display at VASC, offering visitors an up-close look at NASA's current Mars mission. 

It came as a surprise to the Integrity staff to find out that a project that we’re still working on is already a museum artifact, even though it hasn’t been launched yet. The first test flight of the Orion Spacecraft is scheduled for 2014 and will be the furthest that man has traveled into space in 40 years. There’s something odd about that statement, too. Our last moon landing was in 1972 and we haven’t had anyone past earth orbit since?

It’s interesting to note that jet propulsion, rocketry, semiconductors, digital computers, radar, nuclear reactors and a host of other technological advancements were all developed during World War II and extensively refined during the Cold War. The human species doesn’t seem to get motivated to explore new technology by anything less than the threat of extinction Since those threats aren’t likely to crop up any time soon, unless we are visited by a hostile alien race wanting to enslave us or eat us (but that’s another story, see our next issue), we’re going to have to find new motivations to develop new technologies.

NASA is marketing space exploration to Americans and we’re behind it 100%. We need to further science and technology and this is a great way to do it. So let’s get to it before Darth Vader builds a death star in Earth’s orbit.