NASA is set to launch the first test
flight of its deep-space Orion capsule this week, and you can watch
activities leading up to Thursday's launch online.
The Orion capsule
— built for NASA by Lockheed Martin — is designed to eventually take
humans deeper into space than they've ever gone before. Thursday's
uncrewed test will help engineers learn more about how Orion's key
systems operate in the harsh space environment. Starting Tuesday, NASA will air coverage of the run-up to Orion's launch. You can watch NASA TV's Orion events live on Space.com.
"During its 4.5-hour
trip, Orion will orbit Earth twice and travel to an altitude of 3,600
miles into space," NASA said in a statement. "The flight is designed to
test many of the elements that pose the greatest risk to astronauts and
will provide critical data needed to improve Orion's design and reduce
risks to future mission crews."
Orion is expected to
launch to space atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket from
Florida at 7:05 a.m. ET for the test flight (also called Exploration Flight Test-1).
On Tuesday, NASA officials will host a noon ET press conference about
what this Orion flight and future tests could mean for Mars exploration.
NASA will present two
pre-launch news conferences — one at 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, the other at 11
a.m. ET Wednesday — to discuss the 4.5-hour test flight. Officials will
also brief the media after the flight ends.
During this trip, Orion
will make two orbits of Earth, with the second lap taking the capsule 15
times farther from the planet than the International Space Station.
Officials have attached more than 1,000 sensors to the spacecraft to
monitor its systems during flight.
Orion will also beam
down images from its cameras as it is flying through space. NASA will
use the information gathered during the test flight to make improvements
to the spacecraft before humans set foot onboard.
For more about Orion and this week's test launch, check out NASA's detailed schedule of events.