Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft, built to take humans farther into space than they’ve ever gone before. It will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew and provide a safe return to Earth. Having completed its first successful flight test in December 2014, Orion's next milestone will be a flight beyond the orbit of the moon.
NASA is using new technology and lessons learned from earlier missions to build the new spacecraft. Orion will carry up to six astronauts compared with Apollo's three, and a new version of the Apollo heat shield will keep the astronauts safe as the crew module re-enters Earth's atmosphere when it returns from deep space.
The human Journey to Mars begins some 250 miles overhead, as astronauts aboard the International Space Station are working off the Earth for the Earth. The space station's microgravity environment makes research possible that can't be achieved on Earth, leading to breakthroughs in understanding Earth, space and physical and biological sciences, including how future crews can thrive on longer missions, including round-trip journeys to an asteroid and Mars.
The space station also is a test bed for exploration technologies like autonomous refueling of spacecraft, advanced life support systems and human/robotic interfaces. A portion of the space station has been designated a national laboratory, and NASA is committed to using this unique resource for wide-ranging scientific research. A new generation of U.S. commercial spacecraft and rockets are supplying cargo to the space station and will soon launch astronauts once again from U.S. soil.