KSC-2014-4619

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the news media tour the spaceport's Vehicle Assembly Building VAB. Like the Apollo Saturn V and space shuttles of the past, the Space Launch System rocket will be stacked and checked out in the VAB prion to being rolled to the launch pad. 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 Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett