This is the last of these Orbiter picture-essays I'll be able to do for the foreseeable future due to time constraints as of late, so I'll make this one the best yet: The vessel here is the yet-unbuilt Crew Exploration Vehicle, which NASA will use to replace the Shuttle as it's primary manned vehicle. It will be the worlds' first manned spacecraft able to leave Low Earth Orbit since Apollo. Although it's primary purpose will be exploration, it will be able to ferry personnel and supplies to the ISS after the shuttle fleet is retired sometime around 2010. The current schedule calls for the first manned flight of the CEV to be in 2014, and a moon landing by 2015-2020.This essay represents a CEV manned moon mission. Because there won't be rockets as powerful as Saturn V available (nor facilities to accommodate them), the Crew/Resource module (equivalent to the Apollo CSM) and the Lunar module will have to be launched on separate rockets. Although the CEV crew module is only 2/3s as heavy the Apollo CSM despite being able to carry 1 more person, the lunar module is much larger than the Apollo LEM (slightly heavier than the CEV crew/resource module), because it is designed to serve as a habitat module to support 3 people on the lunar surface for up to 20 days (they can get away with this because the CRM and LM are launched on separate rockets anyway). The rocket that will be used here is a future enhanced version of the Delta IV Heavy, which has such improvements over the current model as more powerful engines, fuel cross-feeding between the booster cores, improved cryogenic fuel-densification, 6 solid-fueled strap-on boosters, and an enlarged upper stage, allowing it lift 40+ tonnes into LEO or 20 tonnes to the moon, just enough for either the CRM or LM (a drawback compared to Apollo is there is no room to carry such equipment as a lunar rover). The LM is launched unmanned: the CRM module will rendezvous with it in lunar orbit and the crew will board it for the lunar landing. The CEV model represented here is Lockheed Martin's proposal: Boeing has their own proposal, but it is not available for Orbiter.Anyway, enjoy the show:1)The Crew/Resource module (CRM) atop it's Delta IV Heavy launcher, inside the Mobile Service Tower on the launchpad. This structure is used to protect the rocket and it's payload from the elements, and allows the 4-person crew to board the CRM. Shortly, the doors on the tower will open and the entire structre will roll away from the rocket.
2)The Delta IV Heavy rocket on the launchpad, after the MST has rolled away. The gantries will swing away shortly before ignition...
3)Ignition sequence start...
4)Liftoff!
5)Altitude 20,000 meters: the rocket has completed it's initial pitchover to 40 degrees...
6)T +94 seconds: the expended Solid-fueled boosters have jettisoned
7)T +182 seconds: the two main boosters have jettisoned: the Core booster, which was previously running at 60% power while the boosters ran at maximum, has throttled up to full thrust.
8)T +250 seconds: The rocket has passed 90km. The fairing and Launch Escape System (LES) are jettisoned. 
9)The upper stage has separated from the core stage. The upper will not ignite immediately, but will delay until it's orbit has reached it's apogee, to ensure it achieves a precisely circular orbit at an altitude of 200 km.
10)The upper stage has ignited. It will burn 20% of it's fuel to achieve a circular orbit, plus another 15% to properly align it's orbital inclination with that of the moon.
11)The upper stage in orbit: in a few minutes it will begin it's Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) burn to send it on course to the moon.
12)The TLI burn has begun: The burn will last only a few minutes, but it will provide the spacecraft with enough inerta to reach the moon...
13)The spacecraft is now coasting rapidly away from the Earth...
14)After a final course correction burn, the CRM separates from the upper stage. The upper stage will continue on and slingshot around the moon into an elliptical orbit around the Sun.
15)Now clear of the upper stage, the CRM deploys it's solar wings and high-gain antenna.
16)It has been 25 hours since launch: Although the craft is half way the distance to the moon, the fact that the Earth's gravity is constantly decelerating it means that's it's less than 1/3 of the trip there.
17)The CRM is now at it's closest approach to the Moon: it fires it's main engines to inject itself into an elliptical lunar orbit. Once this orbit reaches it's perigee at about 300km, the CRM will fire it's engines again to circularize it's orbit.
18)The CRM is in a circular 300km orbit around the moon, and will shortly begin a maneuver to rendezvous with the LM. It has been almost 4 days since launch.
19)The CRM has completed the orbital rendezvous maneuver, and is now moving in to dock with the LM...
20)"We have capture and hard dock..."
21)Now that the crew has access to a true vacuum-airlock, an EVA can now be performed for an external inspection of both spacecraft: One crewmember is preparing to leave the outer hatch on the LM.
22)The EVA inspection is now focusing on the solar panels of the CRM. In reality, the astronaut would be tethered to the spacecraft, but that aspect isn't yet simulated in Orbiter.
23)The LM has undocked from the CRM, and has now begun it's de-orbit burn in preparation for landing. The landing site will be the Marius Hills, the planned landing site of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission. The CEV LM will actually land during the lunar night, which is possible due to more modern sensors and instrumentation than the Apollo LEM. There are three crewmembers on the LM, with one remaining behind on the CRM.
24)The LM is about 10km above the surface, and is now descending gently toward it's landing site.
25)Moments before touchdown...
26)One of the crew is preparing to exit the airlock for an EVA on the moon's surface.
27)More Lunar EVA, this time after the sun has risen over the Moon: it has now been 11 days since landing, and 15 days since launch. In one more day, the LM will take off to rejoin the CRM...
28)The launch window for rendezvous with the CRM has opened, so it's time to leave: the Ascent Stage of the LM lifts off.
29)The LM ascent stage, now 40km above the moon's surface.
30)The Ascent stage has now completed a rendezvous maneuver with the CRM. Since the Ascent stage cannot translate laterally or vertically very well, the CRM will perform the final docking maneuver.
31)Docking: the crew will now transfer themselves, their scientific equipment, and samples to the CRM.
32)The LM has undocked: it will use the last few seconds of it's fuel supply to de-orbit, crashing itself into the lunar surface.
33)It has been over 6 hours since LM jettison, and now it's time to to go home. The Trans-Earth injection burn is the trickiest part: not so much actually getting back to Earth or achieving a proper re-entry angle, but rater timing the ascent with the earth's rotation so you land on the correct location on the earth's surface.
34)Six hours since the Trans Earth Insertion (TEI) burn...
35)Now just a few hours from re-entry: It has been nearly 5 days since the CRM left the moon...
36)Altitude, 1,000km. The Resource module has jettisoned from the crew module...
37)Both parts continue to descend: the Resource Module will enter the atmosphere at a shallower angle than the crew module, to eliminate the chance of collision...
38)The CM, just moments away from Entry Interface. In will splash down in the central Pacific, a few hundred km south of Hawaii...
39)Reentry! As the heat shield ablates, it produces a particle stream that appears as smoke...
40)The CM has emerged from the re-entry blackout, and can now deploy the drogues, which will right it and slow it enough for the main chutes to be deployed...
41)Welcome Home! The CM's main chutes have deployed, and it is now moments from splashdown. The entire mission lasted 21 days...
Jonathan Nikiforovs.
Milepost 180, CP Belleville Sub.
Repainter for Yonder Locomotive Works.
"A crictic is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased - he hates all creative people equally." - Lazarus Long
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RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), ns_sd70m, Mar-03-05, 01:17 PM, (1) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), bradhig, Mar-03-05, 05:24 PM, (2) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), AlphaMaster, Mar-03-05, 07:14 PM, (3) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), Liberty Line, Mar-04-05, 03:18 PM, (4) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), JonN, Mar-04-05, 04:53 PM, (5) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), Poltergeist, Mar-05-05, 00:26 AM, (6) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), BNSF4723, Mar-05-05, 00:38 AM, (7) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), Chessie SD50 8563, Mar-05-05, 04:02 AM, (8) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), Poltergeist, Mar-05-05, 02:59 PM, (9) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), JonN, Mar-05-05, 03:38 PM, (10) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), GrandTrunkFan, Mar-07-05, 08:38 PM, (11) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), JonN, Mar-08-05, 11:55 AM, (12) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), Poltergeist, Mar-08-05, 02:06 PM, (13) RE: Return to the Moon (56k alert and I really mean it), JonN, Mar-08-05, 02:46 PM, (14)
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Jonathan Nikiforovs.