The Media Tour the BFF, VAB, and the ML

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the news media are briefed on the agency's Space Launch System SLS Program by Todd May, program manager for Space Launch Systems SLS at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The briefing took place in the spaceport's Booster Fabrication Facility BFF. During the Space Shuttle Program, the facility was used for processing forward segments and aft skirts for the solid rocket boosters. The BFF will serve a similar role for the SLS. 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.