The most interesting part of this, to me, is the social media Q&A NASA conducted in conjunction with the arrival of the Orion. I think it is far more interesting and informative than the usual official presentations:

And speaking of those official presentations, there’s one of those too if you really want to watch it:

Now that we’re moving on to the Space Launch System (SLS) and commercial cargo and crew operations KSC is getting a major makeover. The VAB is practically being rebuilt from the inside out with the removal of massive structures from the high bays, originally installed to work on the Saturn V. And removing miles of copper cables that were state of the art at the time, and are now replaceable with a single fiber optic line strand. The VAB is being redesigned to handle multiple vehicles, to provide flexibility. In addition to handling the SLS it may be processing ATK’s Liberty launch vehicle, or possibly manned versions of the Atlas V or Delta IV depending on what is decided for processing those. (It probably won’t be processing SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as they have their own facilities already.)

Orbiter Processing Facility 3 (OPF 3), used to process Space Shuttles, is being refurbished for use by Boeing in producing their CST-100 capsule – presuming it does go into production of course. It remains to be seen if NASA will select it for the Commercial Crew Program, and, if not, if Boeing will produce it for the commercial market anyway.

This first video takes a look back at the 50 years of KSC’s history, I love the brief look at the shuttle concepts at the three minute mark:

And this video takes a look at the changes coming to KSC to support the next 50 years and some of the history happening right now:

NASA is testing the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X as part of their Space Launch System development effort. The SLS is intended to be NASA’s next heavy lift launcher, the de facto replacement for the Space Shuttle. SLS replaced the cancelled Constellation program as the latter was felt to be too ambitious given the budget constraints. However, a number of Constellation elements live on in SLS – including the J-2X, the Space Shuttle-derived Solid Rocket Boosters, and the Orion crew capsule.

The second is a record-breaking firing, running over nineteen minutes in duration. That’s far longer than the J-2X will need to fire in operation on a typical launch. Things are looking good so far for the J-2X:

Also related to the SLS, the last of the 15 remaining RS-25D flight engines, formerly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), has been delivered to storage at Stennis. The plan is to use up the existing RS-25D engines on the expendable core stage of the new SLS before switching over to new-build, cheaper RS-25E engines designed to be expendable. The RS-25D has a number of features required in their role as reusable engines on the space shuttle which just aren’t necessary for an expendable engine. But the existing engines still have life left, so they’ll go out in a blaze of glory on one last mission on the SLS.

In more immediate news, the SpaceX COTS 2+ Mission, aka Falcon 9 Flight 3, which has been rescheduled a few times is now set to launch this morning, Saturday, May 19, at 04:55ET. This will be the first launch of a commercial spacecraft, the Dragon capsule, to the International Space Station. A truly historic event – and they have a live webcast on YouTube! It is set to start at 04:15ET – you can join now, there is a timer counting down to the start of the webcast:

You can also watch on NASA TV:

Live video for mobile from Ustream

And for something different, the recent Lyrid meteor shower as filmed from the ISS:

The SLS will initially use the RS-25D, also known as the SSME – or Space Shuttle Main Engine. NASA has a stockpile of these from the shuttle program. Later this will change to a cheaper RS-25E, or expendable, version. Whereas the RS-25D was reused on multiple shuttle flights, engines used on the SLS will be discarded. So there is no need to build the engines to higher standards for reusability. NASA is only using the RS-25D initially since they already have a stockpile of them and with the retirement of the shuttle they have nothing else useful to do with them. The RS-68B the Ares V was to use would’ve been a version of the RS-68/68A already in use on the Delta IV launcher, designed to be expendable.

Most of the increased lift from the evolved version of the SLS will come from new rocket boosters. NASA is expected to compete the design of the new boosters, which could be liquid or solid fueled. But that is still a ‘when and if’ question, since they need to get the initial design off the ground first.

I’m disappointed because I grew up with one program after another promising great leaps. The X-30 National Aerospace Plane – cancelled. The DC-X Delta Clipper – cancelled. (Though Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin New Shepard program looks to be the spiritual successor.) The X-33 VentureStar – cancelled. The X-34 – cancelled. The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle – cancelled. And, of course, the Constellation Program was cancelled.

At least the Air Force picked up the X-37 after NASA dumped it.

With each cancellation the programs have seemed to get less ambitious. No more space planes, reusable launch vehicles, etc. We’re back to the gumdrop on a stick capsules. Much of the technology in the SLS can trace its development right back to the Apollo program, and the rest is a pretty direct link to the shuttle. There’s not much that can be considered new. That’s safe and (relatively) cheap, but not all that inspiring, at least to me. The first generation SLS reminds me very strongly of the aborted Ares IV concept, which would’ve been kind of a combination of the lower stages of the Ares V and the upper stages of the Ares I.

Frankly I’m a lot more inspired these days by what’s going on in the commercial sector. And I don’t me the traditional giants like Boeing, Lockheed, Ariane, the Russians, etc. But the space start ups that are doing new things. Blue Origin and their New Shepard, as well as their other projects. Sierra Nevada and their Dream Chaser space plane (based on concepts from the cancelled NASA HL-20). But most especially Elon Musk’s SpaceX and their Falcon launchers and Dragon capsule.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is being designed to lift 53 metric tons to LEO. With concepts for the Falcon X Heavy and Falcon XX lifting 125 and 140 metric tons, respectively. While those are still concepts the Falcon 9 has already flown, and the Falcon Heavy is a direct evolution of the Falcon 9 (it was formerly known as the Falcon 9 Heavy) and it is in active development. While it won’t lift even as much as the first generation SLS, I find it more inspirational because it is a small private company developing everything from scratch. There is no legacy technology in the Falcon program, they’ve been inventing a new generation of rocket technology. And so far they’ve been very successful.

While the SLS will surely be a very impressive vehicle if it ever flies, don’t get me wrong, right now that is a very big if given NASA’s track record with programs. I’m not sure we wouldn’t be better off giving the money to companies like SpaceX to accelerate development of vehicles like the Falcon XX. Given their track record on the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Dragon to date we might get more for less.

Via CNET Crave.