Goddard Monitors Orions EFT-1 Test Flight

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, played a critical role in the test flight of the #Orion spacecraft on Dec. 5, 2014. Goddard's Networks Integration Center, pictured here, coordinated the communications support for both the Orion vehicle and the Delta IV rocket, ensuring complete communications coverage through NASA's Space Network and Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.

The Orion spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida at 7:05 a.m. EST. The Orion capsule splashed down about four and a half hours later, at 11:29 a.m. EST, about 600 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. While no humans were aboard Orion for this test flight, in the future, Orion will allow humans to travel deeper in to space than ever before, including an asteroid and Mars.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/Amber Jacobson

Credit: NASA/Goddard/Amber Jacobson

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.