NASA announced that the first Orion spacecraft bound for space arrived last week at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This next-generation vehicle is designed to carry astronauts farther into space than they have gone in decades.
The capsule will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1, an unmanned mission set for 2014. It will fly 3,600 miles above the surface of the Earth, which is 15 times higher than the International Space Station and farther than and spacecraft designed for humans in 40 years.
The 2014 flight will test Orion’s heat shield.
The Orion module is extremely advanced and can provide astronauts with emergency abort capability.
Before the launch, a 400-person crew at Kennedy will apply thermal protection systems, avionics, and other systems.
NASA plans to put Orion into service in 2017 with its Space Launch System heavy rocket.