[meteorite-list] NASA's Orion Arrives At Kennedy, Work Underway For First Launch

[Ron Baalke]

July 02, 2012

David Weaver/Trent Perrotto 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1600/0321 
david.s.weaver at nasa.gov/trent.j.perrotto at nasa.gov 

Amber Philman 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 
321-867-2468 
amber.n.philman at nasa.gov 

Josh Byerly 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111 
josh.byerly at nasa.gov 


RELEASE: 12-225

NASA'S ORION ARRIVES AT KENNEDY, WORK UNDERWAY FOR FIRST LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- More than 450 guests at NASA's Kennedy Space 
Center in Florida welcomed the arrival of the agency's first 
space-bound Orion spacecraft Monday, marking a major milestone in the 
construction of the vehicle that will carry astronauts farther into 
space than ever before. 

"Orion's arrival at Kennedy is an important step in meeting the 
president's goal to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in 
the 2030s," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "As NASA 
acquires services for delivery of cargo and crew to the International 
Space Station and other low-Earth destinations from private 
companies, NASA can concentrate its efforts on building America's 
next generation space exploration system to reach destinations for 
discovery in deep space. Delivery of the first space-bound Orion, 
coupled with recent successes in commercial spaceflight, is proof 
this national strategy is working." 

Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed. It will 
provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space 
travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space. 

The space-bound Orion will launch on Exploration Flight Test-1, an 
uncrewed mission planned for 2014. The spacecraft will travel 3,600 
miles above the Earth's surface, 15 times farther than the 
International Space Station's orbital position. This is farther than 
any spacecraft designed to carry humans t has gone in more than 40 
years. The primary flight objective is to understand Orion's heat 
shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep 
space. 

In advance of the 2014 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 
Fla., a 400-person Orion production team at Kennedy will apply heat 
shielding thermal protection systems, avionics and other subsystems 
to the spacecraft. Work also is underway by the Ground Systems 
Development and Operations team at Kennedy to modify and refurbish 
facilities used throughout the history of American spaceflight in 
preparation for the next generation of rockets and spacecraft. This 
includes the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center, launch 
pad, mobile launcher and crawler-transporter. 

"Work is under way on America's next great spacecraft that will 
surpass the boundaries within which humanity has been held," said 
William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human 
Exploration Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in 
Washington. "In a facility that once processed cargo for space 
shuttles and various components for the International Space Station, 
hundreds of people at Kennedy are coupling advanced hardware assembly 
systems with a new human-rated spacecraft designed for deep space 
travel.. It is a fitting testament to the American work force at 
Kennedy that has enabled the exploration of space for 50 years is 
again working on hardware that will extend human presence throughout 
the solar system." 

In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a 
heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for 
human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for 
launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new 
missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar 
system. 

Across the country, progress is being made on multiple components and 
capabilities for Orion and SLS. Orion has successfully completed 
numerous splashdown tests from a variety of angles and speeds, 
examining how the spacecraft will come to a rest on the ocean at the 
conclusion of deep space missions. NASA also has conducted a series 
of parachute tests high above the Arizona desert, demonstrating how 
Orion will behave under its giant parachute canopy. Software tests 
have been run between Mission Control Houston and an Orion mockup at 
Lockheed Martin's Exploration Development Laboratory, allowing flight 
controllers to learn how the spacecraft's onboard computers operate. 
Work also continues to build and fine-tune Orion's launch abort 
system. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion. 

The J-2X upper-stage rocket engine, developed by Pratt & Whitney 
Rocketdyne for the future two-stage SLS, is being tested at Stennis 
Space Center in Mississippi. The prime contractor for the 
five-segment solid rocket boosters, ATK, has begun processing its 
first SLS hardware components in preparation for an initial 
qualification test in 2013. The SLS core stage, which will be 
designed and manufactured by Boeing, has just passed a major 
technical review and is moving from concept to early design. Boeing 
has already delivered test bed flight computers to the program and 
flight software development is underway. 

The Orion crew module was built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in 
New Orleans. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Orion 
Program. SLS is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in 
Huntsville, Ala. NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations 
Program is managed by Kennedy. 

For more information about the Orion Program, visit: 

www.nasa.gov/orion 

For more information on the Space Launch System, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/sls 

For more information about the Ground Systems Development and 
Operations Program at Kennedy, visit: 

http://go.nasa.gov/groundsystems 
	
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