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Orion (spacecraft) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Orion with ATV SM
The Orion spacecraft. This is a mockup made by an artist of the spacecraft.

Orion is a spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin for NASA. Each Orion spacecraft will be able to carry up to six astronauts. The Orion vehicle will be launched on the Space Launch System, but the first launch (EFT-1) was on the Delta IV Heavy.

Orion will launch from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, the same launch site used by the Space Shuttle and the Saturn V. Orion is meant to take humans to asteroids and Mars.

History

Ares-I-X 2009-5938 (cropped)
The only launch of the Ares I, Ares I-X. This did not have an Orion spacecraft and did not go to orbit.
Space Launch System in Flight
An artist mockup of the Space Launch System.

Orion was first made for the Constellation program in 2004, as the Orion CEV (Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle). It was meant to be launched on the Ares I rocket. Then it would be able to go to the International Space Station. It was also planned to go to a spacecraft launched in pieces on different Ares V rockets, and the spacecraft with the Orion would go to the Moon, Mars, or another place.

On October 11, 2010, Constellation was cancelled. They created a new program and a new rocket called the Space Launch System, and changed the name of Orion to the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. This rocket will launch Orion for going to asteroids and Mars.

Images for kids

  • Cev design

    Configuration of the Orion spacecraft (the capsule shown in the photo is an early design version of Orion)

  • Orioncm

    Crew module

  • MACES in Orion mock-up

    Interior of the Orion mock-up in October 2014

  • Orion Spacecraft Outfitted Interior 2021 (no labels)

    Interior of a mockup of the Orion crew module outfitted in the On-Orbit configuration that will be used in crewed missions

  • NASA's Orion Spacecraft Parachutes Tested at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

    Testing of Orion's parachute system

  • Orion PA-1 paint job

    Orion Crew Module Model (Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center)

  • Orion Service Module

    Artist's concept of an Orion spacecraft including the European Service Module with Interim Cryogenic Upper Stage attached at the back

  • NASA's Orion Spacecraft Heads Cross Country

    Transport of the Orion capsule before the first test (2013)

  • Orion water test

    NASA and DoD personnel familiarize themselves with a Navy-built, 18,000-pound (8,200 kg) Orion mock-up in a test pool at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division in Potomac, Md.

  • Orion Drop Test on Feb 29

    The Orion Drop Test Article during a test on February 29, 2012

  • Technicians carefully position an Orion flight test crew module

    Test article being airlifted to the Pad Abort-1 flight test.

  • Orion spacecraft launch configuration (2009 revision)

    Orion CEV design as of 2009

  • Orion CM-LAS stack

    Orion LAS test assembled at NASA Research Center

  • Orion lunar orbit (Sept 2006)

    Artist's conception of Orion (as then-designed) in lunar orbit

  • Delta IV Heavy on pad with Orion EFT-1 (KSC-2014-4686)

    EFT-1

  • Astronaut preparing to take samples from the captured asteroid

    Artist's concept of an astronaut on an EVA taking samples from a captured asteroid, with Orion in the background

  • Gateway with docked logistics module in lunar orbit

    Orion approaching the Gateway during Artemis 3

  • Orion docked to Mars Transfer Vehicle

    Artist rendering of the Orion CEV docked to a proposed Mars Transfer Vehicle

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Orión (nave espacial) para niños

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