Lockheed Martin has begun lean assembly pathfinding operations for the Orion spacecraft.

The firm is conducting simulated manufacturing and assembly operations with a full-scale Orion mock-up to ensure the tools, processes and spacecraft integration procedures work as expected.

The Orion crew exploration vehicle is being designed to support missions to the International Space Station and into deep space.

The Orion spacecraft will be fully assembled and integrated on site in the operations and checkout (O&C) facility at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.