KSC-2013-1889

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians monitor the progress as a processing tool is lowered to the floor after it was lifted away from an Orion service module work stand. Work continues to prepare for Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion’s first unpiloted test flight is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket. A second uncrewed flight test is scheduled for 2017 on the Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http:__www.nasa.gov_orion. Photo credit: NASA_Charisse Nahser