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on Twitter CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – NASA has announced its
intention to launch an unmanned flight of the Orion Spacecraft
atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy launch
vehicle – by 2014. This flight test will be added to the
contract that the space agency has with aerospace firm Lockheed
Martin. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV as it
is more commonly known – will test out systems that will be
employed on the Space Launch System (SLS). If successful, this
will allow astronauts to travel beyond low-Earth-orbit (LEO) for
the first time in over four decades. “This flight test will
provide invaluable data to support the deep space exploration
missions this nation is embarking upon,” said NASA Associate
Administrator for Communications David Weaver. The flight has
been dubbed Exploration Flight Test or EFT-1 and will be
comprised of two high-apogee orbits that will conclude with a
high-energy reentry into the Earth’s atmosph