NASA has received the first Lockheed Martin-built space-bound Orion spacecraft crew module at its Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, US, before its unmanned exploration flight test (EFT-1) in 2014.
The delivery follows the crew module’s completion of final friction stir weld at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, US.
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NASA will perform the final assembly, integration and testing of the Orion capsule, during which it will be equipped with additional subsystems for propulsion, thermal protection, environmental control, avionics, power, mechanisms, as well as landing and recovery systems.
The unmanned EFT-1 flight is expected to be launched onboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket to a 3,600 mile altitude and will exhibit incorporated vehicle performance for ascent, on-orbit flight, and a 20,000mph speed high energy re-entry profile.
The test will further assess the spacecraft’s heat shield, required for safe deep-space exploration and to reduce overall risk, in support of Orion’s scheduled first manned flight in 2017.
NASA said that the EFT-1 test would also allow them to gather early critical flight performance data and validate the integration advantages for the Orion, space launch system and ground operations programmes.
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By GlobalDataThe Orion crew exploration vehicle is claimed to be the world’s first interplanetary spacecraft designed for human exploration of solar system and can transport astronauts beyond low Earth orbit on long-duration, deep-space missions to destinations including asteroids, Lagrange points or the moon.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion space capsule, while the programme is managed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, US.
Image: Orion spacecraft’s EFT-1 flight in 2014 will mark NASA’s first orbital flight test beyond low Earth orbit. Photo: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
