Orion (spacecraft)
Orion is a spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin for NASA. 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 will launch from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, the same launch site used by the Space Shuttle and the Saturn V. 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.
On October 11, 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. This rocket will launch Orion for going to the Moon in 2022 and Mars in 2033.
Related pages
NASA
Space Launch System
References
Other websites
Orion NASA webpage
NASA spacecraft
Orion program