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On August 25, 2016 NASA held a drop test of a mockup of the space agency’s crew-rated Orion spacecraft in a simulated ocean splashdown the agency’s Langley Research Center located in Hampton, Virginia. NASA is planning on launching an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on "Exploration Mission 1" in late 2018. During this test flight, Orion will launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B atop the new super heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. It will then head out into circumlunar space on a planned three week mission. In early 2017 NASA's acting Administrator, Robert Lightfoot requested a study into what would be required to have astronauts fly on this mission, Should that take place, EM-1 likely will not take place until 2019. Photos courtesy: Mark Usciak
