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Working Towards the Future – Work on the heat shield and thermal protection backshell of the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle ground test article, or GTA, was completed in preparation for environmental testing. This image is of the crew vehicle at the Lockheed Martin Vertical Test Facility in Colorado. The crew vehicle will undergo rigorous testing to confirm its ability to safely fly astronauts through all the harsh environments of deep space exploration missions. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin |
WASHINGTON, DC, USA /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — NASA is inviting the public to view a test version of the agency’s next spacecraft that will carry humans into deep space.
The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which NASA announced last month would be the agency’s deep space crew module based on the original work on the Orion capsule, will make three stops as it travels by truck from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The planned stops are June 15-16 at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz.; June 19-20 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas; and June 24-25 at the Tallahassee Challenger Learning Center in Florida. The module also will be on display June 29-July 4 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
During a test flight in New Mexico last year, a new launch abort system propelled the spacecraft off the launch pad to a speed of almost 445 mph in three seconds. The spacecraft then parachuted to the desert floor.
The test module eventually will be moved to Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Facility for further study. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle’s propulsion, life support, thermal protection and avionics systems ultimately will enable astronauts to travel for extended deep space missions and return safely to Earth.
The public can contact each of the sites directly for information on seeing the spacecraft and hours of operation. For more information on the development of the vehicle, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv