Interview: Julie Kramer White z
AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COMAPRIL 2015 | 15
together, the two modules are called
CSM); and the lunar module (LM), to
take two of the crew to the lunar surface
and support them on the moon, and
return them to the CSM in lunar orbit.
Kramer is insistent that the look
may be the same, but the technology
is wildly different: “The things you see
from the outside, the shape of it, was
clearly derived from Apollo. Having
come out of the shuttles, when you
talk about going to another next-
generation of vehicle, the debate is
always, ‘Do you change?’ A castle-type
vehicle has a lot of positives to it from
a mass perspective. It has a lot of
positive attributes from a safety and
robustness perspective – the re-entry
is about as simple as you can get it,
and it’s easier to protect the vehicle.
That’s why Soyuz is built essentially
in that same castle form. It’s why you
see Dragon done that way.
“It’s clearly an Apollo derivative. We
did it that way on purpose; we wanted
to be able to leverage a lot of the
aerodynamics and testing and re-entry
data that had been gathered during
Apollo because that all gives us a
leg-up on the development. So I don’t
want to go and reinvent the shape
when I have a lot of data on the shape.
It would be like comparing a 1960s
VW Bug with mine from 2005. They’re
totally different, the engines are totally
different, the electronics are totally
different, the computer, everything is
50 years newer on mine. We all joke
about how my iPhone has a lot more
computational capability than the
Apollo capsule had.”LAUNCH-ABORT SYSTEM
No rocket motor test is complete
without serious power. And the motor
tests for Orion’s launch-abort system
(LAS) are no different. With three
separate solid motors, the LAS packs a
powerful punch, for the sole purpose
of providing safety for the astronauts,
and getting them off the ground and
into the space environment.
“The biggest issue is really the abort
system. We have an LAS that’s
composed of three solid rocket motors.
Unfortunately, when you have a solid
rocket motor that provides 500,000 lb
of thrust, and takes you up to 13g in
just a few seconds, you know it
provides a very high vibro-acoustic
environment,” Kramer says. “Some
of our environments on the outside
of the ‘O’ drive, on the last faring, are
in excess of 175dB, so it’s a very high
acoustic environment that wreaks
havoc with a lot of our components.
Obviously we have to test for that, andwe did it in Apollo and we’ve done
it on smaller scale with planetary
exploration vehicles,” Kramer states.OLD AND NEW
The flight mode, lunar orbit
rendezvous, was selected in 1962.
This was the beginning of the Apollo
program, and was the source of every
schoolboy’s spacecraft drawing – what
the industry calls a ‘castle’ style of
space rocket (as opposed to the shuttle
design). The boosters for the program
were the Saturn IB for Earth orbit flights
and the Saturn V for lunar flights.
Apollo was a three-part spacecraft:
the command module (CM), the crew’s
quarters and flight control section; the
service module (SM) for the propulsion
and spacecraft support systems (whenLEFT: 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 ComplexTOP: No one is
aboard Orion for
the first flight testABOVE: Kramer
and deputy
program manager
Mark Kirasich
celebrate Orion’s
successful mission“IT’S CLEARLY
AN APOLLO
DERIVATIVE. WE
DID IT THAT WAY
ON PURPOSE; WE
WANTED TO BE
ABLE TO LEVERAGE
A LOT OF THE
AERODYNAMICS
AND TESTING AND
RE-ENTRY DATA”