Pathfinding Operations for Orion Spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center

Pathfinding Operations for Orion Spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion ground test vehicle has been lifted high  in the air by crane in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The ground test vehicle  is being used for pathfinding operations, including simulated manufacturing, assembly and stacking procedures. 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 test flight of Orion,  Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 is scheduled to launch in 2014. EFT-1 will be  Orion's first mission, which will send an uncrewed spacecraft 3,600 miles into  Earth's orbit. As part of the test flight, Orion will return to Earth at a speed of  approximately 20,000 mph for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.