Mon, Sep 12, 2011
Major Progress Made on Nation's New Space Exploration Plan
Construction began this week on the first new NASA spacecraft
built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left
the factory in 1991, and marked a significant milestone in carrying
out the ambitious exploration vision President Obama and Congress
have laid out for the nation.
Engineers at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans
started welding together the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose
Crew Vehicle. "The Orion team has maintained a steady focus on
progress, and we now are beginning to build hardware for
spaceflight," said Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer, NASA's Johnson
Space Center, Houston. "This marks a major milestone in NASA's
ambitious plans to send humans farther into space than the nation
has ever been before," said NASA spokesman David Weaver,
Headquarters, Washington. "We're not only working to send people
into deep space, we are putting people to work right here in
America."
The first welds were completed Friday using an innovative new
friction stir welding process, developed especially for Orion
construction. The process creates a seamless, leak-proof bond that
has proven stronger and higher in quality than can be achieved with
conventional welding. After welding is completed at Michoud, the
Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be shipped to NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the heat shield will be
installed. At Kennedy, it will undergo final assembly and checkout
operations for flight.
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