Orion’s Delta IV heavy rocket rolls to the launchpad ahead of test flight

(The rocket that will send NASA’s Orion spacecraft on its first flight test in its vertical launch position at Cape Canaveral – Photo Credit : NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis)

The rocket that will propel NASA’s Orion spacecraft 3,600 miles above Earth and into space during Exploration Flight Test-1 has now rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility near Space Launch Complex 37 and has made the trek to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

NASA and Boeing finalize $2.8 billion SLS contract

(Artist’s conception of the SLS – Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC)

Following the completion of a Critical Design Review (CDR), Boeing has signed a $2.8 billion contract with NASA to begin full production of the core stage of the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the first human space exploration vessel since Saturn V – the rocket that sent man to the moon.