The U.S. Navy has recovered a mock-up NASA spacecraft from a well deck filled with water during a dockside demonstration at Norfolk Naval Station, the Virginian-Pilot reported Aug. 16.
Diane Tennant writes Navy crews aboard five small vessels towed the Orion model capsule into the well deck of transport dock Arlington on Aug. 15.
NASA intends for Orion to further its deep space exploration and plans to test the unmanned spacecraft in orbit in 2014, according to the report.
Orion is also slated for trips back and forth from the International Space Station and Orbital Sciences Corp. is one the contractors that will handle the spacecraft’s test flight in September from Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore, reports Virginian-Pilot.
Tennant writes the capsule is scheduled for an unmanned mission in 2017 and a manned launch in 2021.
