Days Before Launch

United Launch Alliance engineers and technicians prepare to lift the Orion spacecraft for stacking atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket Nov. 12 at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Radislav Sinyak

On November 11th NASA's Orion spacecraft moved to its launch area at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  It took one day and reached this area on November 12th and has been preparing for its December 4th launch date since.  In order to get Orion into space it will be connected to the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.  This rocket will take Orion 3600 miles above the surface of the Earth where the rocket will complete two full orbits of the Earth.  During these orbits the space module will travel through the high radiation zones of space in order to test its critical systems.  No humans will be on board this test flight, so every bit of information collected by the on-board computers will be important for future flights.  Orion will reenter Earth's atmosphere at 20,000 miles per hour and will land safely in the Pacific Ocean.  There the U.S. Navy will retrieve the spacecraft so that it can be reused.  The video below from NASA describes Orion's first flight in more detail.