NASA says its Orion spacecraft, which will someday carry humans on long-duration mission to explore deep space, has received its final touches and is complete.
That marks the end of the construction phase on the spacecraft intended to take up to six astronauts beyond our moon and perhaps some day to Mars, the space agency says.
The completed Orion crew module, along with a service module, a launch abort system and its adapter will be rolled out to a launch pad on Nov. 10, to be fitted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket for its first unmanned flight test sometime in December, NASA officials said.
"This is just the first of what will be a long line of exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, and in a few years we will be sending our astronauts to destinations humans have never experienced," said Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development. "It's thrilling to be a part of the journey now, at the beginning."
The first test launch will see Orion sent 3,600 miles away from the Earth -- 15 times farther than the orbit of the International Space Station -- on a flight of two orbits to test systems critical to the success of mission to deep space.
It will return to Earth travelling at close to 20,000 mph for a splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean, during which the focus will be on system vital for crew safety, including heat shield performance, altitude guidance and control, and parachute deployment.
Lockheed Martin has led the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle development, working with United Technologies Aerospace Systems, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Honeywell and other companies from 45 U.S. states.
"An empty shell of a spacecraft arrived to Kennedy Space Center two years ago, and now we have a fully assembled Orion standing 72 feet tall," said Michael Hawes, Lockheed Martin Orion program manager. "We're ready to launch it into space and test every inch."
When it arrives at its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Orion will be hoisted 170 feet into the air for mating with the Delta IV Heavy rocket. Engineers will spend weeks powering up the interfaces between capsule and rocket to get ready for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), currently set for December 4.
Orion's first manned exploration mission could occur by 2017, and may involve a 6-day journey taking it as much as 250,000 miles from the Earth.
