NASA ORION EXPLORATION FLIGHT TEST EFT-1 COMMEMORATIVE 39MM ANTIQUE BRONZE COIN

NASA ORION EXPLORATION FLIGHT TEST EFT-1 COMMEMORATIVE 39MM ANTIQUE BRONZE COIN

Orion is America’s next generation spacecraft that will take astronauts

to exciting destinations never explored by humans. It will serve as the

exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to distant planetary bodies,

provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space 

travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space. 

Orion, NASA's new spacecraft built to send humans farther than ever before is launching into space for the first time in December of 2014.

An uncrewed test flight called Exploration Flight Test-1 will test Orion systems critical to crew safety, such as heat shield performance, 

separation events, avionics and software performance, attitude control and guidance, parachute deployment and recovery operations. 

The Data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions and validate existing computer models and innovative new approaches

to space systems development, as well as reduce overall mission risks and costs.

The Orion spacecraft will take astronauts beyond low-earth orbit to destinations such as an asteroid and eventually to Mars on future missions, 

but to ensure that it is ready for humans to fly in, its December flight test is needed to stress its systems in the real environment it will face as 

it pushes the boundaries of human space exploration. 

Exploration Flight Test-1 

During Orion’s flight test, the spacecraft will launch atop a Delta IV Heavy, a rocket built and operated by United Launch Alliance. 

While this launch vehicle will allow Orion to reach an altitude high enough to meet the objectives for this test, a much larger, human-rated

 rocket will be needed for the vast distances of future exploration missions. To meet that need, NASA is developing the Space Launch System, 

which will give Orion the capability to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. 

During the uncrewed flight, Orion will orbit the Earth twice, reaching an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles – about 15 times farther into space than the International Space Station orbits. Sending Orion to such a high altitude will allow the spacecraft to return to Earth at speeds near 20,000 mph. Returning at this speed, as fast as any spacecraft built for humans had endured since the Apollo Program, will expose the heat shield to temperatures close to 4,000º F, 80 percent of what the spacecraft would endure returning from the vicinity of the moon on NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission.