WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The program is on track to complete the spacecraft’s development to meet NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 performance requirements.
"Lockheed Martin and NASA have completed the majority of Orion’s… Critical Design Review (CDR) which means the spacecraft’s design is mature enough to move into full-scale fabrication, assembly, integration and test of the vehicle."
The complete CDR process will conclude after a presentation to the NASA Agency Program Management Council in spring 2016, according to the release.
"The vast majority of Orion’s design is over, and now we will only change things when new requirements come into play," Lockheed Martin Orion Vice President and Program Manager Michael Hawes said in the release.
In early 2016, Orion’s crew module pressure vessel will be shipped to the Operations and Checkout Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
There, the release explained, the Orion will undergo final assembly and testing to prepare to be launched atop NASA’s Space Launch System for the first time.
"The test flight will send Orion into… a wide orbit around the moon that is farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled," the release said.
Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs 112,000 people and made net sales $45.6 billion in 2014, according to its web site.
