![]() ![]() NASA took pains to keep the scene basically the same, with the clock and flag pole, according to Diller.Īpollo 17's launch on Dec. In the upper right corner, the words "Orion Test Flight" showed in red, sandwiched between an Orion emblem and the NASA logo. But that's because the left half of the display showed a real-time, close-up image of the Delta IV rocket launch pad. On Tuesday, the countdown numbers ticked down in the lower right corner-far smaller than on the old familiar clock. The new $280,000 display, similar to those used at sports stadiums, can provide multiple images in addition to the countdown time NASA spokesman George Diller said the old clock, while still working, had become too expensive to fix and maintain. The new clock is just as long at 26 feet (almost 8 meters), but a foot taller at 7 feet (2 meters). And up went the new display in the same exact spot at the Kennedy Space Center press site that, along with the nearby flag pole, had once earned national historic designation. So last week, down came the countdown clock that dated back to the Apollo 12 moon shot in 1969 and signaled every space shuttle launch for 30 years. ![]() What better way to usher in this new era of exploration, NASA reasoned, than with the latest flat-screen gizmo. It's the nation's first new spacecraft intended for true outer-space travel by humans since the Apollo moon program. The multimedia display was lit up Tuesday and counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until Thursday morning's liftoff of Orion on an unmanned orbital test flight.
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