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JOHNRAOUX—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The Orion Spacecra moves by the Vehicle Assembly Building on its approximately 22- mile journey from the Launch Abort System Facility at the Kennedy Space Center to Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. ByMarciaDunn The Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. NASA'squesttosendastro- nauts out into the solar sys- tem begins this week with a two-laps-around-Earth test flight. The new Orion space- craft is not going to Mars just yet; Thursday's debut will be unmanned and last just 4½ hours. But it will be the farthest a built-for- humans capsule has flown since the Apollo moon mis- sions, shooting 3,600 miles out into space in order to gain enough momentum to re-enter the atmosphere at a scorching 20,000 mph. The dry run, if all goes well, will end with a Pa- cific splashdown off Mexi- co's Baja coast. Navy ships will recover the capsule, a la Apollo, for future use. This initial Orion is rigged with 1,200 sensors to gauge its durability for the day when astronauts do climb aboard during the de- cade ahead. Advertised des- tinations include an aster- oid to be corralled in lunar orbit for human explora- tion in the 2020s, followed by Mars in the 2030s. "We're approaching this as pioneers," said William Hill of NASA's exploration systems development of- fice. "We're going out to stay eventually. ... It's many, many decades away, but that's our intent." Lockheed Martin Corp. built the capsule and is staging the $370 million test flight for NASA. Orion is NASA's first new spacecraft for humans in more than a generation, succeeding the now-retired space shuttles. Unlike the capsules under develop- ment by two U.S. compa- nies for space station crew transport, Orion is meant for the long haul, both in time and space; it would be supplemented with habitats for potential Mars trips. "We need a spacecraft that's going to be sturdy enough and robust enough" to carry astronauts well be- yond low-Earth orbit for weeks and months at a time, said Lockheed Mar- tin's Bryan Austin, a for- mer NASA shuttle flight di- rector who will oversee Ori- on's maiden voyage. "That's how Orion really separates itself from the commercial field. They're there to get you to sta- tion and back. Of course, we're there to be hardened enough to sustain it for that long duration." For this orbital tryout, a Delta IV rocket will hoist Orion from Cape Canav- eral Air Force Station. Lift- off is scheduled for 7:05 a.m. EST, just after sunrise. The rocket, with Orion and its launch escape tower at the tiptop, stretches 242 feet high. Future Orion launches will use the mega rocket still under development by NASA, known as SLS or Space Launch System. The first Orion-SLS launch is targeted for 2018, un- manned, followed by the first piloted mission in 2021. No one at NASA is pleased with such a poky pace. At best, it will be seven years before astro- nauts fly Orion — any- where. By comparison, it took eight years from the time President John Ken- nedy announced his inten- tions of landing a man on the moon — before John Glenn had even rocketed into orbit — to Neil Arm- strong and Buzz Aldrin's lunar boot prints in 1969. Given the present budget situation, "it is what it is," said Kennedy Space Cen- ter's director Robert Ca- bana, a former astronaut. And the presidential elec- tion ahead could bring fur- ther delays and uncertain- ties. NASAlaunchingOrion spacecra on test flight SCIENCE By Haruna Umar and Adamu Adamu Associated Press BAUCHI, NIGERIA Sus- pected Islamic extremists struck in two state capitals in northeastern Nigeria on Monday, with a deadly dou- ble bombing at a crowded market and an attack on a police base. The attacks were the lat- est in a week of violence linked to Islamic militants that has killed more than 170 people in northern Ni- geria. Rescue workers were evacuating the dead and wounded from the Mai- duguri market, the same one where two female sui- cide bombers killed at least 70 people a week ago, said trader Bala Dauda. "I can't say how many were killed or injured but I have seen very many vic- tims dripping with blood, others with parts of their bodies dismembered by the blasts," Dauda told The As- sociated Press by telephone. Monday's blasts also were caused by "two girls," said witness Mallam Mu- hammadu. Police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said it's too early to give a toll in Maiduguri. After the explosions, young men in vigilante groups barricaded some Maiduguri roads to try to ensure safety in the city. These community defense groups and security forces are accused of summary ex- ecutions and other rights abuses of people they be- lieve are extremists. There was no immedi- ate claim of responsibility for the Maiduguri blasts but people blamed Boko Haram, the Islamic ex- tremist group that has car- ried out many such attacks in a 5-year insurgency that has killed thousands and forced hundreds of thou- sands from their homes. In Damaturu, explosions and gunfire erupted before dawn Monday causing some residents to flee into the bush and others to cower in their homes. Damaturu, the provincial capital of Yobe state, is some 85 miles west of Maiduguri, which is the capital of Borno state. The militants targeted a rapid-response police base on the outskirts of Dama- turu, said resident Garba Musa. "It has been burned down completely," he said. The Defense Ministry headquarters said a fighter jet was repelling the attack- ers. A helicopter gunship was hovering over the town. The attacks on the two state capitals show an ac- celeration of the extremist violence in northeastern Ni- geria. Boko Haram, the West African's nation's home- grown Islamic extremist group, has been striking with increased frequency and deadliness since the military declared the insur- gents had agreed to a cease- fire in September. VIOLENCE Ex tr em is ts a tt ac k 2 Ni ge ri an c ap it al s By Sameer N. Yacoub and Vivian Salama Associated Press BAGHDAD Iraq's prime minister said Monday he retired 24 officials from the Interior Ministry as part of efforts to restructure the country's security appara- tus and remove those who failed to confront the crisis caused by the Islamic State group's onslaught. Haider al-Abadi's an- nouncement came as the Sunni extremist group at- tacked a police checkpoint near Iraq's border with Syria, killing at least 15 Iraqi policemen in an as- sault that underscored the depth of the country's tur- moil. In Syria, the U.S. Central Command said a U.S. air- strike struck a target associ- ated with the so-called Kho- rasan group, which Wash- ington says is a special cell within the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front that is plotting attacks against Western interests. CENTCOM said the attack took place near Aleppo, and was among 27 airstrikes since Friday that mainly targeted Islamic State group militants in Ko- bani and Raqqa in northern Syria. The strike on the Kho- rasan group marked the fifth time the U.S. has tar- geted Nusra, al-Qaida's Syria branch, as part of its broader campaign against the IS group in Syria and Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi's move to send two dozen Interior Min- istry officials into retire- ment is part of his efforts to "restructure the security forces and make them more effective in the face of ter- rorism," according to state- ments on his official Twitter and Facebook pages. Al-Abadi, who became prime minister in Septem- ber, has already retired a number of senior military officials in a push to reform the force. IRAQ In fi gh t ag ai ns t IS , PM s ac ks 2 4 offi ci al s PAID ADVERTISEMENT | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014 6 B