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| Orion Asteroid Mission |
Mission insignia
 |
| Mission statistics |
| Mission name |
Orion Asteroid Mission |
| Launch pad |
Launch Pad 39B |
| Launch date |
mid-2020's |
| Landing |
TBC |
| Mission duration |
~90-120 days |
| Orbital altitude |
–4.5 million mi. (–6.9 million mi.) max. distance from Earth |
| Orbital inclination |
TBD |
| Distance traveled |
TBD |
The Orion Asteroid Mission is a proposed mission to a Near-Earth Asteroid using the standard Orion spacecraft and a landing module based on Altair. If carried out, it would be the first manned mission beyond both the Earth and the Moon and would allow NASA to develop techniques to both protect the Earth from an impact from such objects, as well as preparation for the first manned human expedition to Mars after 2030.
The mission would start like that of any standard Constellation lunar landing mission, with an Ares V launching the landing module into Low Earth Orbit, followed by the launch of an Orion spacecraft, with a two or three person crew (as opposed to a four person crew for lunar missions) on an Ares I rocket. Once the Orion spacecraft docks with the landing module and the Earth Departure Stage, the EDS would then fire again and propel the Orion spacecraft to a nearby Near-Earth Asteroid, preferably 99942 Apophis, where the crew would then land and explore its surface.
Once their task is completed, the Orion spacecraft will then depart from the asteroid, and, upon reaching the vicinity of Earth, would jettison both the Service Module and the landing module in a manner similar to that of Apollo 13 (ie. separating the Service Module before the landing module) before entering the atmosphere for a Pacific Ocean splashdown.[1]
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