Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Orion team sent out the first Orion crew module spacecraft structure from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Upon arrival in Denver, it will be integrated with the heat shield and thermal protection backshell before undergoing environmental testing.
“This is a significant milestone for the Orion project and puts us on the right path toward achieving the President’s objective of Orion’s first crewed mission by 2016, ” said Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion program manager. “Orion’s upcoming performance tests will demonstrate how the spacecraft meets the challenges of deep-space mission environments such as ascent, launch abort, on-orbit operations, high-speed return trajectory, parachute deployment, and water landings in a variety of sea states.”
