Engineers monitor a test on the quick disconnect for a modified instrument unit and liquid hydrogen tilt up umbilical at the Launch Equipment Test Facility.

Engineers in a control center at the Launch Equipment Test Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida monitor a test on the quick disconnect for a modified instrument unit and liquid hydrogen tilt up umbilical at the Launch Equipment Test Facility. The test is being performed by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program. The umbilical will be partially reutilized for the Orion Service Module Unit.

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/Dimitri Gerondidakis