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Orion program deep into production, processing and testing for EFT-1
Click here for Orion articles: Orion | NASASpaceFlight.com
Orion program deep into production, processing and testing for EFT-1 | NASASpaceFlight.com
Why does it take to 2020 to have a man mission on one of these?
July 16th, 2012 by Chris Bergin
After a somewhat unhappy childhood, that included an abrupt and costly cancellation, the Orion program is now full speed ahead for its Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1). The Orion tasked with the 2014 mission is now being outfitted in Florida, as adaptor hardware related to EFT-1 – and its debut on the Space Launch System (SLS) – heads towards production.
Orion Progress:
The recent arrival of the EFT-1 Orion at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was a key milestone ahead of its flight atop of a Delta IV-H from Cape Canaveral.
The team at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans completed their work with the final closeout weld activities on the EFT-1 flight vehicle structure, all without any major production issues on the new vehicle. The final weld joined the cone to the barrel, which completed the pressure vessel structure of the spacecraft.
The entire construction was completed in less than a year, earning the Orion EFT-1 Crew Module Welding Team a Space Flight Awareness (SFA) award for their efforts.
Following welding operations, the vehicle was shipped to KSC for final assembly and systems outfitting for flight inside the revamped Operations and Checkout (O&C) building.
This building will serve the Orion fleet – in a similar fashion to how the Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs) housed the Space Shuttle orbiters – ahead of their rollout to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for integration processing with the Space Launch System (SLS).
Engineers have also been seen working on an Orion mock up inside the VAB, using it to test and validate Ground Support Equipment (GSE) “attach and lifting” procedures.
For EFT-1, the Orion will roll to the nearby Cape Canaveral for integration with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV-H.
Click here for Orion articles: Orion | NASASpaceFlight.com
Orion program deep into production, processing and testing for EFT-1 | NASASpaceFlight.com
Why does it take to 2020 to have a man mission on one of these?
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