8420.- Astronave Orion.-

Visiting the Renovated Flight Control Room for NASA's Orion Spacecraft 04/11/2014 12:00 PM EDT Mission Operations Director Paul Hill talks to the media as NASA Administrator Charles  Bolden and Johnson Space  Center Director Ellen Ochoa visit Mission Control in the  newly renovated and historic White Flight Control Room, which  will be used to support  NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The mission patches that adorn the walls reflect the control  room's previous use in the Space Shuttle Program. Orion is the exploration spacecraft  designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space, 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. Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1),  planned for December 2014, will be Orion's first mission. EFT-1 will send an uncrewed  spacecraft 3,600 miles above  the Earth for a two-orbit flight that will give engineers the  chance to verify its design and test some of the systems most critical for the safety of the astronauts who will fly on it in the future. After traveling 15 times farther  into space  than the International Space Station, Orion will return to Earth at speeds  near 20,000 mph, generating temperatures  of up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit,  before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Image Credit: NASA