Journey to Space Page #2

were full of life-changing promise.

In memory of our lost heroes,

the global space community

pulled together to reignite

the future of both programs.

Who could ask

for a better ending to my career

as an astronaut than getting to fly

the last shuttle mission on Atlantis,

and a final visit to the ISS.

Atlantis launch director,

air to ground one.

Atlantis go.

And so, for the final time, Fergie, Doug,

Sandy and Rex, good luck, Godspeed,

and have a little fun up there.

We're not ending the journey today, Mike,

we're completing a chapter of

a journey that will never end.

You and the thousands of men and women

who gave their hearts,

souls and their lives

for the cause of exploration,

have rewritten history.

Let's light this fire one more time, Mike.

Though the shuttles no longer fly,

I never miss a chance to see Atlantis

at the Kennedy Space Center.

But I came to KSC to get a look

at the next big step

in deep-space exploration,

and it's called Orion.

Here, in the giant operations

and checkout clean room,

the new Orion multi-purposed crew vehicle

is coming together.

What an impressive vehicle.

Look at that... it's beautiful.

It's gorgeous. I'd love to climb in there.

Orion is a true deep-space

exploration craft,

designed to carry astronauts of the future

back to the moon,

to asteroids, and even to Mars.

I've always been drawn to explore

and try new experiences.

Maybe that's why I applied

to be an astronaut.

I'm Serena Aunon, and I am one of the

newer group of astronauts chosen by NASA.

Like the rest of my class,

I'm absolutely honored

and humbled to be here,

and it's great to be a part of this team.

I guess you could say I'm one

of those people for whom

the future has always seemed

an unfolding adventure.

So you can go forward

and backwards in the procedure

just by using

this toggle switch over here.

Yes, that, exactly.

Learning from astronauts,

like Lee Morin, who have

already spent weeks in space,

gives you a great sense of confidence.

The Orion mock-up provides

astronauts in training,

like Serena, a chance

to learn flight procedures,

and also give feedback

to perfect new systems.

This should be a piece of cake for Serena,

since my shuttle's ten screens

and more than a thousand switches

have been streamlined

to just three screens

and 60 switches on Orion.

Hey, Lee, you can open

the helium cross-feed valve.

Okay, we got that, so go ahead

and send that command

- on the helium cross-feed valve.

- All right, copy that.

And the shuttle's hundred pounds

of flight manuals and checklists

have been reduced to...

well... zero, since Orion's

are all on computer.

Stand by, and we'll evaluate.

But even with all these improvements,

to get Orion into deep space,

we're gonna need a bigger rocket.

When NASA's giant space launch system,

built by Boeing, is complete,

the rocket will stand

as tall as a 38-story building

and make more than

nine million pounds of thrust,

enough to lift 22 elephants into space.

For deep-space expeditions,

the SLS will need to lift

five key mission components

beyond low-Earth orbit.

Since Orion is too cramped

for a six-month journey to Mars,

one solution being developed

is an inflatable habitat

to house the crew en route.

A solar electric

propulsion device will provide

continuous power

for the round-trip journey.

A lander craft will carry the

crew from their orbit above Mars

down to the planet's surface.

Months later, an ascent vehicle

will lift the crew back up

to the orbiting Orion

for the return trip to Earth.

But even using the most sophisticated

future spacecraft, a two-and-a-half year

round-trip journey to Mars

will present new challenges

to the human body.

I wanted to thank the Indiana

State Museum for having me here.

It is an absolute pleasure.

As a medical doctor with a

specialty in aerospace medicine,

I am particularly interested

in keeping astronauts healthy

as we head into deep space

for long periods of time.

Our experience with more

extended weightlessness

on the ISS has shown us that the

human body will face challenges

during lengthy journeys to deep space.

Key issues are muscle and bone loss,

which can start after just

a few days of weightlessness,

along with degrading

of vision for some astronauts.

We now know that exercise is the antidote

for most problems

caused by weightlessness.

And I mean exercise...

about two hours a day.

But, even so, the first explorers to Mars

will need to rest at least a few days

after landing on the planet

to readjust to walking,

though Mars has less than

40% of Earth's gravity.

Radiation is another risk in deep space.

Radiation from our sun's solar storms

is one source of danger.

But cosmic radiation, which

permeates all of deep space,

is another ever-present

challenge to human health.

Sections of Orion,

as well as the transit habitat,

will have to serve as a shelter

in the case of a major solar flare.

In the Arizona desert,

an Orion mock-up is being drop-tested

to evaluate reentry systems.

On returning from deep space,

Orion will enter our atmosphere

more than 50% faster

than shuttles or Soyuz capsules,

and generate five times more heat,

so perfecting her parachute deployment

and heat shield is key to crew survival.

At the Kennedy Space Center,

Orion is being prepped

for an uncrewed

test flight into deep space.

This new vessel marks

the first step in over 40 years

to put humans beyond low Earth orbit.

A journey to Mars is on the horizon

because of wide-ranging

international efforts

by both governments

and private enterprise.

Companies from Boeing and Lockheed

to newcomers like SpaceX, Sierra Nevada

and Orbital Sciences

are developing spacecraft

to service the ISS and beyond.

Some private groups

foresee a technically simpler

one-way mission to colonize Mars.

Already thousands have volunteered

to live permanently on the Red Planet.

The demands of going to deep space

will push old designs to new limits.

- Looks good.

- Looks good. Hey.

- New glove. Should be good.

- Sounds good.

My name is Lindsey Aitchison

and I am a spacesuit project engineer

at NASA Johnson Space Center.

I first started thinking

about space flight

when I was four years old,

when I first came to JSC

to take a tour at the visitor's center.

We have pictures of me just

sitting inside this spacesuit,

and I just knew

that's what I wanted to do.

No, dad-gum it.

When the Apollo suits were first done,

those were very short-duration EVAs.

We didn't have a lot

of mobility in that suit,

so when you see

those astronauts hopping around

on the lunar surface,

it's not because they themselves

are clumsy or that the gravity

is just impossible to deal with.

We didn't give them enough

mobility in the suits.

So we learned a lot from that.

For the next generation suit,

there's still a lot that we don't know

about what it's going to be like to live

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