MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – As NASA's next spaceship is about to make an historic debut, a Minneapolis teenager will have a front row seat.
An unmanned Orion spacecraft will launch from Florida's coast on Dec. 4. It's designed to carry astronauts into deep space explorations such as asteroids and Mars, and will fly about 3,600 miles and will rocket back to Earth at high speeds.
Abigail Harrison, 17, will be watching closely. The South High student, better known to the masses as "Astronaut Abby," was invited to report live from the Orion launch.
The aspiring astronaut has become well known for her mission to be the first person to walk on Mars in 2030.
KARE 11 first met Harrison when she was 15, and traveled to Russia as a guest of the European Space Agency to be a part of a legendary Soyuz launch. Since attending the launch, Harrison has created and run a worldwide outreach program to excite kids about space exploration.
"There are kids all over the world emailing me and tweeting me," said Harrison. "I am taking the digital tools we have to try and get more young people interested in space and STEM."
During the Orion launch, Harrison be providing updates for the digital publication SpaceFlight Insider, and will be providing updates on her own social media channels. She has her own website, and more than 22,000 followers orbit her Twitterverse.
"The Orion is the vehicle in the future that will be able to go to Mars, so being able to watch the first experimental test flight of this is just crazy because in 20 years from now, this is what I will be using to get to Mars," said Harrison. "To go to Mars, what we really need is a large public push telling NASA and telling the government that this is what we want to see happen, this is important to us as a society."
The Orion will test key systems like heating, computers, parachutes and power. Abby will be watching closely and not just for her own journey. She knows to launch a dream, exploration first begins within.
"My message has always been and will continue to be dream big, act big and inspire others," said Harrison. "It's really important for me to see what I can do for others while I am on this journey."
Harrison is currently taking classes at the University of Minnesota as part of the post-secondary options program. She's applying to colleges, with her top picks including Yale, MIT and Stanford.
The Orion mission is known as Exploration Test Flight 1 or EFT-1. It will mark the farthest a NASA vehicle built for human spaceflight has flown since the Apollo moon mission came back to Earth in December of 1972.
Keep up with Abby at @AstronautAbby, and search the hashtags #FutureofSpace and #MyRidetoMars. You can also join her at AstronautAbby.com, and on the Facebook Group Future of Space.
