Orion Capsule remarkable images

May 20, 2008 - Surrounded by work platforms, the full-scale Orion AFT crew module (center) is undergoing preparations for the first flight test of Orion's launch abort system. NASA/Tony Landis

April 1, 2008 - Sporting a fresh paint job, NASA's first Orion full-scale abort flight test crew module awaits avionics and other equipment installation. NASA/Tony Landis

Oct. 4, 2008 - The boilerplate Orion crew module for the Orion Launch Abort System Pad Abort-1 flight test is tilted on jacks during weight and balance testing at NASA Dryden.

Aug. 8, 2009 - Technicians at NASA Dryden install the "goalpost" fixture to the Orion crew module integration stand during conversion of the stand into a transportation fixture for airlift of the module to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The crew module will be used in the first Orion Launch Abort System pad abort flight test, expected in early 2010. NASA Photo / Jim Ross

Nov. 5, 2008 - The boilerplate Orion crew module for the Orion Launch Abort System Pad Abort-1 flight test undergoes moment-of-inertia testing. NASA / Photo Tony Landis

ORION CREW MODULE NASA LANGLEY 90 (1/30/2008) - America will send a new generation of explorers to the moon aboard NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle. Making its first flights to the International Space Station early in the next decade, Orion is part of the Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. NASA/Sean Smith

March 29, 2008 - NASA paint shop technicians prepare the Orion full-scale flight test crew module for painting in the Edwards Air Force Base paint hangar. NASA/Tony Landis

March 28, 2008 - Air Force loadmasters oversee unloading of the full-scale Orion abort test crew module mockup from a C-17 cargo aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base March 28. NASA/Tony Landis

April 3, 2008 - NASA Dryden Flight Research Center personnel accompany NASA's first Orion full-scale abort flight test crew module as it heads to its new home. NASA/Tony Landis

March 29, 2008 - Paint shop technicians carefully apply masking prior to painting the Orion full-scale abort flight test crew module in the Edwards Air Force Base paint hangar. NASA/Tony Landis

May 6,2009 - NASA Dryden visual communications manager Steve Lighthill carefully smoothes out a NASA logo decal after affixing it to the Orion test module that will be flown in the Launch Abort System flight tests later this year at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. The test module had just completed a series of high-intensity acoustic tests to evaluate its resistance to acoustically induced high-frequency vibrations that could potentially exceed the module's structural limits or damage its electronics. NASA Photo / Tony Landis

18 Aug. 2009 - The Orion crew module that will be used for the Orion Launch Abort System Pad Abort-1 flight test is photographed prior to loading onto a Mississippi Air National Guard C-17 at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center Aug. 18, 2009 for airlift to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The first of five planned launch abort flight tests in NASA's Constellation program, Pad Abort 1 is scheduled for early 2010 from the new launch pad at White Sands. Photo Credit: NASA

May 6, 2009 - The Orion flight test crew module that will be used for the Orion Launch Abort System Pad Abort 1 flight test is shown with its adapter cone that attaches the abort system's rocket motor to the module. Instrumentation installation and integration was conducted at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center over an 18-month period in 2008 and 2009 in preparation for the pad abort flight test. NASA Photo / Tony Landis

April 1, 2008 - NASA Dryden Flight Research Center technicians accompany NASA's first Orion full-scale abort flight test crew module as it heads to it's new home. NASA/Tony Landis

NASA engineers and contractors conduct static loads testing of the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) Fairing Assembly, flight hardware that will be used to cover and protect the Orion crew module during Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), scheduled for September 2014.

Engineers are currently testing a critical component of NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. The ogive panels protect the crew module during ascent as well as from the harsh acoustic and vibration environments experienced during launch. They are part of the spacecraft’s launch abort system, which is designed to protect astronauts if an emergency arises during launch or ascent by pulling the crew module away from the rocket. Plum Brook Station facilities are uniquely equipped to replicate, at full scale, the acoustics and vibrations Orion will experience during its missions in space.

Image Credit: NASA/Jordan Salkin, Alcyon Technical Services

Orion’s Ascent Abort-2 flight test vehicle rolled out from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Abort System Facility to Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and teams completed their first launch rehearsal, and flight test readiness review on June 4, in preparation for its planned July 2 launch. During the flight, a test version of Orion will launch on a booster to more than six miles in altitude where Orion’s launch abort system (LAS) will safely pull the capsule away from the rocket. The team will be stacking all the AA-2 elements together at the launch pad over the next few weeks. The test will demonstrate Orion’s LAS can steer the capsule and future crew to safety if an emergency occurs during ascent on the Space Launch System rocket. Ensuring safety will pave the way for Artemis missions near the Moon, enabling astronauts to set foot on the lunar surface by 2024.

Image Credit: NASA/Tony Gray