Orion prepares for maiden flight test in Dec

The Orion crew module, stacked atop its service module, moved out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kenned...

The Orion crew module, stacked atop its service module, moved out of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept 11. Image Credit: NASA

NASA and Lockheed Martin have completed fueling the Orion spacecraft with ammonia, hydrazine and high pressure helium at Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, ahead of the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) in December.
Orion has now been moved to the Launch Abort System Facility for integration with the launch abort system (LAS), a critical launch safety technology designed to immediately pull the capsule and crew out to safety in an emergency.

The LAS is the highest thrust and acceleration escape system ever buillt, significantly improving crew safety in all flight regimes.

It consists of three solid rocket motors: an attitude control motor, which steers the crew away from the launch vehicle, a jettison motor, which pulls the LAS away from the crew module, and an abort motor, which propels the crew module away from the launch pad.
"Once the launch abort system is integrated and functional testing concludes, the spacecraft is considered done," said Michael Hawes Lockheed Martin Orion program manager. "Then in November we'll integrate to the rocket."
The EFT-1 is conducted to validate the technologies developed for the manned Orion spacecraft is mature enough and safe for the crewed flights. During EFT-1, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft will be launched onboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket, and travel 3,600 miles beyond low Earth orbit—15 times further than the International Space Station. Orion will re-enter Earth atmosphere at a speed of approximately 20,000 mph for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on the same day.


EFT-1 will provide engineers with data about systems critical to crew safety such as heat shield performance, separation events, avionics and software performance, attitude control and guidance, parachute deployment, and recovery operations.

During EFT-1 all nominal functions, including separation, will be tested on the LAS, however the abort functions are inactive.

The LAS abort functions were previously tested in New Mexico at White Sands Missile Range during Pad Abort Test 1.
The spacecraft will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to space and provide safe re-entry from deep-space missions.
You can watch the test video here: http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=j68mszdhTmY.

Source: Lockheed Martin