Orion (spacecraft)

Orion, full name: Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV, is a spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin for NASA. 

One of those flew into space (and back to Earth), as late as 2022's fourth quarter. That mission lasted 25 days. There were no astronauts on the flight.

A spaceflight with astronauts is planned for, no earlier than April 2026.

Each Orion spacecraft will be able to carry up to six astronauts. The Orion vehicle will be launched on the Space Launch System. The first launch (Exploration Flight Test-1) was on the Delta IV Heavy.

Orion is meant to take humans to the Moon and Mars.

History
Orion was first made for the Constellation program in 2004, as the Orion CEV (Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle). It was meant to be launched on the Ares I rocket. Then it would be able to go to the International Space Station. It was also planned to go to a spacecraft launched in pieces on different Ares V rockets, and the spacecraft with the Orion would go to the Moon, Mars, or another place.

In October, 2010, Constellation was cancelled. They created a new program and a new rocket called the Space Launch System, and changed the name of Orion to the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

Related pages
 NASA
 Space Launch System

References

 Other websites 
Orion NASA webpage 

Category:NASA spacecraft
Category:Orion program