DLA Energy supports a new era of space exploration with Orion launch

Courtesy Photo | The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 at at 7:05 a.m. EST, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Florida. The Orion spacecraft orbited Earth twice, reaching an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles above Earth before landing in the Pacific Ocean. No one was aboard Orion for this flight test, but the spacecraft is designed to allow us to journey to destinations never before visited by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. Photo credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)  

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL, UNITED STATES

12.10.2014

Courtesy Story

Defense Logistics Agency   

Defense Logistics Agency Energy was one of the forces behind the NASA launch of its Orion deep-space capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Dec. 5.

The DLA Energy Aerospace Energy team supplied the monopropellant hydrazine for the Delta 4 rocket’s upper stage and high purity hydrazine, which the Orion test flight is using for in-orbit thrusters.

For future manned deep-space missions, DLA Energy will supply monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide in addition to the high purity hydrazine.

The unmanned United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket blasted off at 7:05 a.m. carrying more than 1,200 sensors to monitor communications and control systems under heightened radiation levels and to test its heat shield, which will experience re-entry temperatures expected to rise as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It's an honor providing the highest quality fuel to power Orion's needs,” said DLA Energy Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod. “It's truly a ship of dreams.”

McLeod said it was exciting to witness the successful Orion mission, and for those old enough to remember the Apollo flights, Orion once again rekindled the American spirit of adventure within.

Orion’s first test flight was historic, according to a NASA news release. It was the first mission since Apollo to carry a spacecraft built for humans to deep space, the first time NASA’s next generation spacecraft was tested against the challenges of space, and the first operational test of a heat shield strong enough to protect against 4,000-degree temperatures.

After four-and-a-half hours and two earth orbits, the Orion space capsule splashed down at 11:29 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where it was retrieved by Navy ships and aircraft.

"Orion is the exploration spacecraft for NASA, and paired with the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket it will allow us to explore the solar system," Mark Geyer, program manager of Orion, said in the NASA release. "This [test flight] has shown it’s a good design, it's a good mission and now it's time to go fly."

DLA Energy supports ULA under the Commercial Space Launch Act.

Orion’s launch was originally scheduled for Dec. 4, but was scrubbed due to gusting winds and a balky fuel valve.

• Date Taken: 12.10.2014
• Date Posted: 12.11.2014 08:53
• Story ID: 150052
• Location: CAPE CANAVERAL, FL, US