[Orion] First Orion Spacecraft Arrives at Launch Pad for EFT-1

2014-11-22 1

NASA’s Orion spacecraft rolled out Nov. 11 from the Launch Abort System Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, arriving early in the morning on Nov. 12. Orion will be stacked atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket ahead of the spacecraft’s flight test on Dec. 4. The uncrewed test will send Orion on a two orbit, 4.5 hour flight designed to test many of its
systems critical to safety before Orion begins carrying astronauts to deep space destinations in the future. During Orion’s six hour rollout it stopped in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy, where Orion will be stacked atop the agency’s Space Launch System on future missions.