Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians check the Orion crew module. Activities are underway to lift Orion from a test stand and prepare it for future installation of the heat shield.

Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, 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. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in 2014 atop a Delta IV rocket and in 2017 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis