In January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush announced the preparation and development of Orion spacecraft which was later known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle as a part of the Vision for Space Exploration.

Orion is a spacecraft which is designed currently developed by the United States space agency NASA. Orion spacecraft carries a crew of six astronauts. The spacecraft will be launched by the Ares I which is the name of a launching vehicle and this is currently under development. Orion and Ares I are elements of renowned NASA’s Project Constellation. Under this project human explorers will be back to the Moon by 2020 and then onward to Mars and other planets in the Solar System. On August 31, 2006, NASA awarded a contract to design, develop, and build Orion spacecraft which is a very big achievement of the scientists.

Orion will be launched from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center and the same launch complex is currently launching the space shuttle. The shuttle operations continue from launch pad 39A, 39B, which is being ready for Ares launches. NASA will make a use of Orion spacecraft for its human spaceflight missions when the last shuttle orbiter will be retired in 2010. It is an anticipation that the first flight of Orion will be made in 2015. Subsequent flights will visit the International Space Station in future. If orbital transportation services are unavailable used for commercial purpose, Orion will handle all logistic flights taken to the Station and afterwards the Orion will be a key component of human missions to the Moon, Mars and many other planets in the universe.

orion spacecraft