NASA's First Orion Launch Is a Big Deal for Houston
Photo courtesy of NASA Orion, strapped onto a Delta IV Heavy rocket, took off from Cape Canaveral on Friday morning.
The spacecraft stood there gleaming on the launchpad as the countdown began, the numbers ticked off by a cool measured voice. On NASA TV, the audibly giddy voice of the announcer took over, his voice raised to an almost-shout. "Three-two one and lift off art dawn, the dawn of Orion and a new era of American space exploration."
Orion launched on Friday morning and kicked off the start of a new age in space exploration before it had even fully cleared the launchpad.
Despite the scrubbed launch on Thursday morning -- canceled due to high winds, a valve problem and some idiot on an unauthorized boat in the area that we still hate -- thousands of people around the world gathered to watch the second attempt to launch the craft on Friday morning.
Today the wind was good, the spacecraft was go for launch and there were no mystery boats screwing things up. NASA had a 2 hour and 39 minute launch window on Friday and this time everything clicked into place.
The Delta IV Heavy Rocket lit up and Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida was covered in plumes of flame. The Delta IV rocket lifted off the pad and jetted through the sky, and the whole thing was pure joy to watch. But the best part, for the Houston-minded at least, came in about 15 minutes after, once Orion safely hurling through space.
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