Hasta La Gadget!

For the
first time since the Apollo era of the 1960s, NASA is testing a new moonship “in the
turbulent waves of the open ocean,” according to Space.com. The agency is testing a life-sized mock-up of its Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle in the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of
central Florida, in an attempt to see how it does with a water-landing.

“During the
tests, teams of divers and engineers are practicing recovery
techniques to retrieve an Orion capsule after splashdown, as well as
testing how the spacecraft performs in open water,” the report said. “The sea trials are the first
in which recovery teams attempted to attach a flotation collar around the Orion
craft while it bobbed up in down with the ocean waves.”

The Orion
crew capsule is NASA’s
planned replacement for its three aging space shuttles, which are due to
retire at the end of next year, according to the report. The capsules can carry six astronauts to the ISS, or four astronauts to the moon and back. Each capsule is about 15 feet wide and weighs 18,000 pounds–about six Honda Accords, essentially.