Orion Crew Module Comes Alive At T Minus 1 Year To Maiden Blastoff

Technicians work inside the Orion crew module being built at Kennedy Space Center to prepare it for its first power on. Turning the avionics system inside the capsule on for the first time marks a major milestone in Orion's final year of preparations before its first mission, Exploration Flight Test 1. Credit: Lockheed Martin

STORY AND IMAGERY UPDATED

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - Orion, the first NASA spaceship that will ever carry Earthlings to deep space destinations, has at last been "powered on" for the first time at the manufacturing facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where it's the centerpiece of a beehive humming 24/7 with hi tech processing activities in all directions.

"Power On" marks a major milestone ahead of the maiden space bound Orion test flight dubbed "EFT-1" - now at T-Minus 1 year and counting!

NASA and prime contractor Lockheed Martin recently granted Universe Today an exclusive in depth inspection tour of the impressive Orion EFT-1 crew module, service module and associated hardware destined for the crucial unmanned test flight slated for liftoff from Cape Canaveral in September 2014.

"We are moving fast!" said Jules Schneider, Orion Project manager for Lockheed Martin at KSC, during an exclusive interview with Universe Today as we spoke beside the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft inside the clean room. (...)

Read the rest of Orion Crew Module Comes Alive at T Minus 1 Year to Maiden Blastoff (1,490 words)

(c) Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2013.
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Post tags: cape canaveral, Delta 4 Heavy, ISS, kennedy space center, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Orion, Orion Capsule, Orion EFT-1, Space Launch System (SLS), United Launch Alliance

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