NASA’s newest spaceship – Orion MPCV. The pieces are coming together for NASA’s newest spaceship Orion MPCV, with its first unmanned launch test scheduled for September 2014.
Orion MPCV is a disposable capsule that would take four astronauts on 21-day trips.
The Orion capsule was the cornerstone of former President George W. Bush’s plan to return astronauts to the moon. NASA gave Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., a $7.5 billion contract in 2006 to build it.
Orion is also the only project that President Barack Obama did not cancel of the Bush Space Plan in 2010.
It will be the first new spaceship built by NASA since the space shuttle was developed in the 1970s.
According to NASA.gov “In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA’s Space Launch System, a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.”
Video From NASA TV.
According to NASA.gov NASA’s Langley Research Center said this: “We are thrilled to become the permanent home for this full-scale test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft,” said Brian DeProfio, Interim Director of the VASC. “As the visitor center for NASA’s Langley Research Center, this is an ideal way for us to share the NASA story and showcase the latest in NASA technology.”
NASA’s newest spaceship – Orion MPCV
