NASA's New Space Capsule Could Be Ready for Test Flights in 2013

Lockheed, Lawmakers Urge NASA to Maintain Funding for Orion Space Capsule

Workers lower a full-scale Orion mockup onto the crew module holding structure during an assembly pathfinding maneuver at the Operations & Checkout Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA's new Orion

The capsule's

However, in his 2011

Obama later

Amid all

All of this is in

"We're highly

Building through

Lockheed Martin

The activities,

Orion already has

In July, Orion's

And, at a facility

Engineers will soon

"We'll complete

This vehicle will be

"We'll go and

Getting off the

Lockheed anticipates

"It'll be

Whether Orion will

The Obama

Still, Orion should

"It's possible

Past studies have

Deep space

In the Constellation

In fact, the company

"We're still in

The Plymouth Rock

The main change

So Plymouth Rock —

Other changes would

For example, the

Pushing outward

An asteroid

"Asteroids are

Asteroids may

"Asteroids can

Hopkins reckons

"We think it's

Video: NASA's Orion Spacecraft Coming Together
NASA's

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.