The Orion ground test vehicle sits on a work stand in the Operations and Checkout O&C Facility.

The Orion ground test vehicle sits on a work stand in the Operations and Checkout O&C Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle traveled more than 1,800 miles from the company's Waterton Facility near Denver where it successfully completed a series of rigorous tests that simulated launch and spaceflight environments. The ground test vehicle will be used for pathfinding operations in the O&C, including simulated manufacturing and assembly procedures. After those operations are completed, new backshell panels will be installed on the ground test vehicle at the O&C prior to the vehicle’s trek to NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia for splashdown testing at the agency's Hydro Impact Basin.

Launching atop NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System SLS, which also is under development, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle MPCV will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronaut crews beyond low Earth orbit. It also will provide emergency abort capabilities, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: Charisse Nahser