News Archive / Tagged: Exploration Flight Test 1

• Orion moves to PHSF in preparation for first flight

  SpaceFlight InsiderSeptember 11th, 2014

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Orion spacecraft took its next giant leap towards space today, Thursday, Sept. 11. After departing from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, Orion preceded to make the mile-long journey to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) where it will be fueled for flight. Liftoff of Orion’s maiden voyage, Exploration Flight […]

• NASA’s first Orion crew capsule ready for flight

  Heather SmithSeptember 8th, 2014

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — Before its scheduled test flight in December of this year, NASA has released the first photo of a fully constructed Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle capsule being serviced at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility located at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

• NASA Administrator reviews Orion’s prelaunch progress

  SpaceFlight InsiderJune 18th, 2014

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — In approximately six months, NASA’s Orion spacecraft will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket for a two orbit, four hour trip beyond low-Earth orbit and back. This initial test flight, dubbed Exploration Test Flight-1 (EFT-1), is an integral step in NASA’s path to Mars and will show how Kennedy […]

• First flight: Orion stacked in preparation for EFT-1 mission

  Jim SharkeyJune 11th, 2014

  ith just six more months to go until its first flight into space, the Orion spacecraft is taking shape at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Orion’s first test flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), is currently scheduled to launch in December atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA )Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force […]

• Heat shield added to Orion’s crew capsule in preparation for test flight

  SpaceFlight InsiderJune 2nd, 2014

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla — Crews at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have achieved an important milestone by successfully attaching the world’s largest heat shied to the Orion Crew Capsule. Spanning 16.5 feet in diameter, the heat shield is composed of a single, seamless piece of Avcoat ablator designed to protect crews from temperatures up to […]

• Orion service module back on track for 2017 launch

  Paul Scott AndersonMay 29th, 2014

  After some delays, the European-built service module for the new Orion crew-transport vehicle is now back on track and should be ready for a test launch of Orion in late 2017. “The preliminary design review for the service module has been successfully concluded and that is a key milestone in the consolidation of the schedule,” […]

• Team ARES wins NASA’s Exploration Design Challenge for Orion’s first flight

  SpaceFlight InsiderMay 3rd, 2014

  Over the past year, teams from high schools all across the country have been competing in NASA’s Exploration Design Challenge (EDC) to research and design devices to help protect our astronauts from the dangers of space radiation. The EDC was developed in order to help engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as […]

• Orion powers through integrated systems tests

  Jim SharkeyApril 15th, 2014

  NASA’s Orion spacecraft has completed critical testing of its integrated systems in preparation for its first test flight later this year. The flight test, designated Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) will launch the spacecraft more that 3,600 miles from Earth where it will complete two orbits before making a high-energy re-entry at 20,000 miles per hour.

• Boosters for NASA’s EFT-1 mission readied for flight

  Jason RhianMarch 17th, 2014

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla – Two of the three Common Core Boosters (CBC) which will form the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry NASA’s next-generation crewed spacecraft, Orion, to orbit have arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA), the supplier of the Delta IV family of rockets, are […]

• NASA’s EFT-1 mission slips to December

  Jason RhianMarch 14th, 2014

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — The first flight of NASA’s next-generation deep space exploration spacecraft, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle – will have to wait a while longer before hitching a ride to orbit. Sources are reporting that the busy 2014 launch manifest at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has caused the launch of Orion to […]

• Two Delta IV Heavy boosters arrive at CCAFS in leadup to NASA’s EFT-1 mission

  Scott JohnsonMarch 8th, 2014

  On Tuesday, March 4, two Delta IV Common Booster Cores (CBC’s) arrived  at Port Canaveral aboard United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Delta Mariner barge. The barge previously departed ULA’s Decatur, Alabama, manufacturing facility on  Sunday, Feb. 23, and traveled along the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers prior to entering the Gulf of Mexico, rounding the Florida peninsula, and […]

• NASA’s commercial partners make strides toward launching astronauts

  Collin SkocikMarch 2nd, 2014

  With escalating tensions in the Ukraine damaging U.S.-Russian relations and possibly jeopardizing American access to the International Space Station (ISS), recent accomplishments suggest NASA’s dependence on Soyuz-access to the ISS might be drawing to a close. NASA’s private partners under the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) have made steady progress toward being able to send astronauts to […]

• Boosters for NASA’s EFT-1 mission roll and sail out

  Scott JohnsonFebruary 24th, 2014

  DECATUR, Ala. – On Friday Feb. 21, United Launch Alliance (ULA) trucked a completed Delta IV Common Booster Core (CBC) from its Decatur, Alabama, facility to a nearby Tennessee River dock where it was loaded aboard the company’s Delta Mariner barge. This CBC will serve as the starboard booster on the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle which will deliver NASA’s […]

• NASA and contractors prepare for 2014 Orion launch and SLS first flight in 2017

  Jim SharkeyFebruary 11th, 2014

  This year could mark a turning point for NASA’s human space flight program. Several important milestones in the development of NASA’s next-generation deep space efforts are scheduled for 2014. This includes Orion’s first test flight, Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1). Meanwhile the space agency’s new heavy-lift booster, the Space Launch System or “SLS” has undergone engine […]

• NASA highlights Orion’s progress in lead up to critical EFT-1 mission

  Jason RhianJanuary 28th, 2014

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla — NASA showed off the current status of the space agency’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft on Jan. 22, 2014. This capsule-based vessel is scheduled to take an unmanned test flight in September of this year. The media event was held at Kennedy Space Center’s Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building near KSC’s […]