Orion 17

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = Orion 17 & Altair 3
command_module = Orion 17
lunar_module = Altair 3
insignia = Constellation logo white.svg
launch_vehicle = Ares I
launch_pad = Launch Pad 39B
launch = December 2019
lunar_landing = December 2019
landing = December 2019 or January 2020
duration = ~21 days
altitude = ~65 nautical miles (~105 km) in lunar orbit
inclination = ~0 to 30 degrees
distance = TBD
crew_photo =
crew_caption =
previous = Orion 15 & Altair 2 ("lunar", "Human Lunar Return")
Orion 16 ("ISS")
next = Orion 18 ("ISS")
Orion 19 & Altair 4 ("lunar")

Orion 17 is the current name of a manned NASA lunar landing mission, the second Constellation lunar landing and the eighth human lunar landing by NASA. A landing site has not yet been chosen, but it is likely to be at either the lunar north or south pole, where NASA has decided to build a Lunar outpost, as announced on December 4, 2006. [ [http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06361_ESMD_Lunar_Architecture.html NASA] ]

The mission is planned to last approximately twenty-one days. Orion 17 will be launched by an Ares I from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39B. It will dock in Low Earth Orbit with a package made of an Earth Departure Stage (EDS) and the third Altair. This package will have been launched a few weeks earlier by an Ares V. The space assembly will be injected towards the Moon by the EDS.

References

ee also

*List of Constellation missions