The Orion crew module mockup arrives by C-17 to NASA Dryden FRC at Edwards AFB to prepare for testing 3/28/08 Photo: Tony Landis

4/3/2008 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, CA -- Air Force loadmasters oversaw the unloading of the full-scale Orion abort test crew module mockup from a Mississippi Air National Guard C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft here March 28. The Orion crew vehicle mock-up was being delivered to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center here to undergo preparations for the first short-range flight test of the spacecraft's astronaut escape system later this year. Engineers and technicians at NASA's Langley Research Center fabricated the structure, which precisely represents the size, outer shape and mass characteristics of the Orion space capsule.

Ground crewmen with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center later escorted the boilerplate Orion crew module down the Edwards flight-line to NASA Dryden FRC on April 1, after the module had been painted in the Edwards paint hangar.

The Orion crew module mockup is moved from the paint shop to Dryden FRC 4/1/08 Photo: Tony Landis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: USAF Edwards AFB Press Release