Credit: NASA
Construction is underway on the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
Engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have started welding together the craft.
The first welds were completed last week 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 Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the heat shield will be installed.
Once at Kennedy, the craft will undergo final assembly and checkout operations for flight.
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle is being built to carry out missions beyond low Earth orbit, back to the Moon, to select asteroids, and eventually to support an expedition to Mars.
By Leonard David