NASA’s Orion Space Capsule Mock-Up Heads West

HAMPTON, Va.- NASA released Friday a photograph of the nearly 20,000-pound Orion space capsule mock-up being loaded into a C-17 cargo aircraft on Thursday, March 27, at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The mock-up was fabricated at Langley.

The C-17 will transport the mock-up to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. In late 2008, the full-size structural model will be propelled off a simulated launch pad at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to test the spacecraft’s astronaut escape system, which will ensure a safe, reliable method of escape for astronauts in case of an emergency.

To view and download the high resolution picture, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation