Orion

NASA’s Orion spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, is intended to take humans farther than they have ever gone before. As an exploration vehicle, it will carry the crew to space, provide emergency escape if needed, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe return from deep space. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. Orion took its first step on December 5, 2014, when the uncrewed spacecraft launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and traveled 3,600 miles during its two-orbit trip around Earth. The next mission for the Journey to Mars was set for 2018, when the Space Launch System was to launch from Kennedy Space Center and carry Orion without astronauts thousands of miles beyond the moon.

Florida · United States