Mars Is Closer Than Ever Thanks To NASA’s 221-Foot ‘Test Stand’

by Anthony FalcoThe completion of a 221-foot structure in Alabama is a big milestone in NASA’s journey to Mars.Test Stand 4693 will test the 537,000-gallon liquid hydrogen tank that is part of NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. The system will launch the Orion Spacecraft, which is built to take humans farther than ever before and eventually to Mars. The test stand will subject the tank to the same stresses and pressures it must endure at launch and in flight. Orion’s first crew-less flight is scheduled for 2018, with the first crewed trip coming, at the earliest, in 2021. Both missions will take Orion thousands of miles beyond the orbit of the moon.
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