Artist’s impression of the Orion space capsule
Artist’s impression of the Orion space capsule
The maiden flight of the Orion capsule with the ESM is scheduled for 2017/ 2018. This will be an unmanned flight to the moon and back. If NASA exercises its option for a second ESM, the second mission, planned for 2020/2021, will carry astronauts and navigate to a previously captured asteroid, returning home with samples on board. The system-level design for the service module was approved in May 2014. Now the detailed definition phase is underway and the first items of hardware are being constructed.
