KSC-2014-4511

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – NASA Orion Recovery Director Jeremy Graeber, with the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, reviews Orion recovery procedures with NASA, Lockheed Martin and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Anchorage at Naval Base San Diego in California. Before the launch of Orion on its first flight test atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy personnel will head out to sea in the USS Anchorage and the USNS Salvor, a salvage ship, and wait for splashdown of the Orion crew module in the Pacific Ocean. The GSDO Program will lead the recovery efforts. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch in December atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis