Michoud engineers begin building new spacecraft

Engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have started welding together the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. The Orion is first new NASA spacecraft built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left the factory in 1991. “The Orion team has maintained a steady focus on progress, and we now are beginning to build hardware for spaceflight,” says Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. National NASA spokesman David Weaver says the work marks a major milestone in the agency’s plans to send humans farther into space than the nation ever has done before. The first welds were completed late last week using a new and innovative friction stir-welding process, developed especially for Orion construction. The process creates a seamless, leak-proof bond that has proven stronger and higher in quality than can be achieved with conventional welding. After welding is completed at Michoud, the Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the heat shield will be installed. At Kennedy, it will undergo final assembly and checkout operations for flight. Read the rest of the 10/12 Corridor Weekly here.