With the Space Shuttle’s imminent retirement, much of the
discussion about the future of American spaceflight has centered
on private companies like SpaceX. But NASA will have a
spacecraft for deep-space missions, and Lockheed Martin recently
unveiled the first of these craft called Orion. Originally
designed as part of the now-defunct Constellation project, Orion
is the craft that is hoped will carry astronauts to Asteroids
and beyond. Reusable and highly durable, the Orion crew module
looks like a larger Apollo-era capsule but with a slew of high-
tech improvements. NASA hopes to have a manned mission flying by
2016, and it certainly seems like they are well on their way.
(Engadget, image credit Lockheed Martin)