KSC-2013-1911

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, astronaut Don Pettit watches as a technician works on the Orion crew module. Orion is being prepared for Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion’s first unpiloted test flight is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on the Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http:__www.nasa.gov_orion. Photo credit: NASA_Dimitri Gerondidakis