Quick look: NASA Orion’s critical test mission

Orion is the first spacecraft built for astronauts destined for deep space since the Apollo missions and ultimately it is destined for deep space travel — but this week the spaceship went out for a short jaunt outside Earth. NASA says Orion’s unmanned test flight – slated for launch Thursday, is intended to test many of the riskiest elements of leaving Earth and returning home in the spacecraft including the jettison of the launch abort system; the separation of the Orion crew module from its service module ahead of its reentry though Earth’s atmosphere; the heat shield, which will experience temperatures near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and how Orion’s computers handle the radiation from the Van Allen Belt.

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