A Lockheed Martin technician performs tube welding on the Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test 1 inside a clean room processing cell in Florida.

A Lockheed Martin technician performs tube welding on the Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test 1 inside a clean room processing cell in the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on a Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann