Upcoming Orion Rocket Flight Test Highlighted by NASA Associate Administrator

Robert Lightfoot, NASA Associate Administrator will be speaking with the media on Monday to draw attention to upcoming tests of the launch vehicle for the Orion Spacecraft.

The media event will take place at the facility where two booster stages for the Orion spacecraft’s first trip to space are being prepared for launch. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, March 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Launch Complex 37.



This year Exploration Flight Test-1 of the Orion spacecraft will take place as two Delta IV Heavy rocket boosters are paired with a third booster to carry Orion 3,600 miles into space. Not since the Apollo moon missions have spacecraft built to carry humans traveled this far into space.

After 2 orbits of the Earth, the Orion capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. Traveling at nearly 20,000 mph the skin of the spacecraft will reach temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean like the Apollo mission capsules.

For this test flight, the Orion spacecraft will be unmanned, but will gather important data about Orion’s heat shield and other elements that will help engineers improve the spacecraft. Eventually, Orion will be used for manned exploration of asteroids and Mars.