Kennedy Space Center Orion Team Welcomes New Arrival The Orion Ground Test Vehicle arrived at NASA�s Kennedy Space Center Operations & Checkout (O&C) Facility on April 21. The vehicle traveled more than 1,800 miles from Lockheed Martin's Waterton Facility near Denver, Colo., where it successfully completed a series of rigorous acoustic, modal and vibration tests that simulated launch and spaceflight environments. The ground test vehicle will now be used for pathfinding operations at the O&C in preparation for the Orion spaceflight test vehicle's arrival this summer. The spaceflight vehicle is currently being fabricated at NASA�s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La., and is slated for NASA�s Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) in 2014. Orion -- the nation�s first interplanetary spacecraft for human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit -- will be fully assembled and integrated on site at Kennedy Space Center, a new capability that provides significant time and cost savings. The O&C�s 90,000 square feet of air-bearing floor space and specially designed air-bearing pallets enable a small crew to effortlessly maneuver spacecraft across the factory floor. Click here to view a production operation demonstration. After pathfinding 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 Langley Research Center in Virginia for splash down testing at NASA's Hydro Impact Basin. Click here to see what the Orion ground test vehicle looks like after the backshell panels are applied to the structure. Also in the O&C, the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) wall filtering equipment was installed and powered up for the first time. The portable clean room enclosure components are placed throughout the O&C high bay to achieve cleanliness levels required to integrate all the elements of the Orion spacecraft. This modular system, coupled with modern energy efficient Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) and electrical systems, will further enhance cost savings for the life cycle of the facility. This system enables the 90,000-square-foot high bay to maintain the proper environments to meet the cleanliness levels required for spacecraft processing without taking on unnecessary costs associated with fixed clean room systems. There are currently about 300 employees with NASA, Lockheed Martin, USA, and Honeywell working on the Orion program at Kennedy Space Center. That number is expected to grow to 350-400 by the end of 2013 as the flight test date approaches. At Michoud Assembly Facility, the Orion team is nearing completion of welds on the Orion flight test vehicle using the innovative self-reacting friction stir weld process created collaboratively by NASA and Lockheed Martin. Welding operations progressed on the crew module structure (pictured at right) as the barrel-to-aft-bulkhead weld and the aft bulkhead cap weld were completed in March. The team also started the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) process and preliminary visual inspections. The remaining welds to complete the crew module structure include: the tunnel to forward bulkhead weld, the forward bulkhead to cone weld, and the final closeout weld joining the cone section to the barrel. Fabrication of the composite service module panels also showed significant progress. The team completed work on the shear panels, inboard walls, and forward walls. In addition, several of the panels completed fiber placement, non-destructive evaluation and trim testing. All the service module panels are made of a mix of carbon and epoxy laminate and have a lightweight core, providing structural strength with minimal weight. The Orion crew module and service module structural elements will be delivered to the O&C facility this summer for final assembly and systems outfitting on the flight test vehicle.