Orion spacecraft flight testing

Dear readers and followers,

NASA’s newest spacecraft, Orion, will be launching into space for the first time in December 2014, on a flight that will take it farther than any spacecraft built to carry humans has gone in more than 40 years and through temperatures twice as hot as molten lava to put its critical systems to the test.

Testing of Orion system and capsule continue. Actually, in June 2014, NASA performed tests of the parachute system of the new spacecraft called Orion. A test version of Orion is loaded onto a C-17 for a previous test of its parachute system.

As the flight test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft nears, a new video -- called "Trial By Fire" -- details the spacecraft’s test and the critical systems engineers will evaluate during the Dec. 4 flight. Orion is in the final stages of preparation for the uncrewed flight test that will take it 5800 km above Earth on a 4.5 hours mission to test many of the systems necessary for future human missions into deep space.

Few weeks ago, +NASA has officially announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS). SLS is a heavy-lift, exploration class rocket which is still under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars. Finally, after many months of budget difficulty, NASA has approved the program's progression from formulation to development. 

SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. In addition to opening new frontiers for explorers traveling aboard the Orion capsule, the SLS may also offer benefits for science missions that require its use and can’t be flown on commercial rockets.

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