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Orion spacecraft may fall behind schedule, go over budget
Going to space is expensive. Really expensive -- which is why every now and then, Congress has the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) perform a non-partisan, independent review of NASA projects. The latest GAO report looks at the space agency's Orion crew capsule program, and the verdict isn't good. According to the study, the Orion program runs not only the risk of going over budget, but of missing its proposed August 2021 launch date, too.
NASA delays Orion capsule's first manned flight until 2023
Although NASA's Orion capsule completed a successful test flight back in December, the space agency has delayed the first launch with a crew on board. In an announcement detailing a recent "rigorous technical and programmatic review," NASA mentions that the first time the EM-2 spacecraft will take flight with astronauts inside will happen "no later than April 2023." That's two years after the previous launch target and five years after the next scheduled unmanned test flight in fall 2018 aboard Boeing's Space Launch System. This isn't the first time a trip with humans on board has been pushed back for the capsule, but NASA didn't mention if the target of a mission to Mars in the 2030s will also be delayed. The agency did, however, reaffirm its commitment to the deep space mission and to the funding levels provided by President Obama's budget request. In the months to come, though, the Orion team will push ahead with parachute tests and more. [Image credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz]
