In the August issue of Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine, Tom Vanderbilt tests out NASA's new Orion spaceship, which will go deeper into space than any spaceship has before.
Vanderbilt toured a "low-fidelity mockup" of Orion at Lockheed Martin's Exploration Development Laboratory in Houston, and he describes the spaceship as resembling a Star Wars Stormtrooper's helmet.
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Orion will eventually reach speeds of 20,000 mph, Vanderbilt reports, and will be able to leave low Earth orbit, where the International Space Station is located. According to NASA's website, Orion's first test flight will occur by the end of the year, with Orion atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket. Orion's first exploration mission, which will be the first to combine Orion with NASA's new Space Launch System, is scheduled for 2017.
Check out the Orion capsule in the image below. --Meghan DeMaria
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