Orion Heads for the Space Coast

Space News reports that the components for Orion's first test flight are on the way to the Space Coast.

Components of the Orion crew capsule that will orbit the Earth in a 2014 test flight are to be shipped to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., for final assembly by the end of April, prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s top human spaceflight executive said.

Lockheed recently “completed a major weld of the cylindrical section of the [Orion] body where we’re welding the forward hatch sections and heat shield sections,” John Karas, Lockheed Martin Space Systems vice president and general manager of human spaceflight, said March 28. “By the end of next month, we’ll ship those to the Cape for final assembly of the entire first flight article Orion.”

Lockheed expects to complete the Orion capsule that will fly the 2014 test flight by October 2013, Karas added.