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| Tuesday / 29 August 2006 | ||
NASA Orion
-- Moon, Mars and Beyond.
NASA has officially released the logo
(pictured) for its Orion
Moonship, previously known as the Crew Exploration
Vehicle, according to CollectSpace.
Orion is the capsule-shaped spacecraft being developed under the
Constellation Program to succeed the Space Shuttle and carry astronauts
back to the lunar surface. CollectSpace also has reported
that NASA will use the name Orion for the overall program as well
(Similar to how the Apollo Command Module was sent to the Moon under
Project Apollo). The Orion Moonship will be launched into space atop
the Ares
1 Crew Launch Vehicle. Orion Project Manager Skip Hatfield, in
a press briefing from Kennedy Space Center in FL, explained the symbolism
within the newly released logo. The blue sphere
that is the "O" in Orion represents the Earth. The three large stars
in the foreground of the image depict the constellation Orion's belt,
and also represent the three goals of Project Orion: the Moon, Mars
and Beyond. The smaller stars in the background represent the ten
NASA centers working on Orion, led by Johnson Space Center in Houston
TX.
"All these centers are bringing their expertise," says
Hatfield. "The very best that
NASA has to offer is participating in this vision."
The Orion logo was designed by Star
Trek artist
Mike Okuda. NASA
plans to announce
the prime contractor for the Orion Moonship on Thursday, 31 August.
The two finalists are a team led by Lockheed Martin and a partnership
between Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
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