Cool 'Sketchnote' Infographic Explains NASA's Orion EFT-1 Flight in Detail

By Nancy Atkinson - December 4, 2014 at 3:29 PM UTC | Space Exploration
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For many of us, it's easier to comprehend complex processes when they are expressed visually. That was the impetus for artist

Gary Schroeder

in creating this wonderful hand-sketched infographic for NASA's Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) for the Orion spacecraft.

"Being very interested in the follow-on program to the Shuttle, I wanted to pay close attention to exactly what was going to happen during the Orion launch from liftoff to splashdown," Schroeder told Universe Today. "Drawing on my experience in sketchnoting (the practice of taking notes using both words and drawings), I thought an infographic-style sketchnote of EFT-1 would be fun to make. I made one study sketch in the morning based on some quick internet research, let it percolate in my head during the day, and came home after work to render a final version."

Schroeder created the original artwork in pencil, then scanned it and colorized it in Photoshop.

He uploaded it to Flickr just yesterday and it already has nearly 14,000 views. "It's been exciting for me to see so much interest in this drawing," he said.

This just proves that sometimes a little bit of 'throwback' goes great with technology!

See more of Schroeder's work on his

Flickr page.

More about the

Orion EFT-1 mission

; the launch was

scrubbed

for today, but rescheduled for Dec. 5 starting at 7:05 am EST.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com