Delta IV Heavy rocket, capsule move closer to launch

A rocket and spacecraft this week are moving closer to launch of an important NASA test flight in December.

The Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch the $375 million Exploration Flight Test-1 mission was scheduled to roll to its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad as soon as Monday, weather permitting.

Storms delayed a planned morning rollout from a hangar to the service tower at Launch Complex 37, and teams hoped to start by early evening.

Once at the pad, the rocket will be lifted into a vertical position and readied for the mid-November arrival of NASA's Orion capsule.

A fueled Orion on Sunday moved to its last stop before reaching the pad, entering a Kennedy Space Center facility where a launch abort tower will be installed on top of the spacecraft's crew and service modules.

Targeting a Dec. 4 launch, the uncrewed test flight will be Orion's first trip to space. It will send the capsule as high as 3,600 miles above the planet, farther than a spacecraft designed to carry people has flown in more than 40 years.

The two-orbit flight will test Orion's heat shield as it reenters the atmosphere at 20,000 mph, about 80 percent of the speed of trip back from the moon.

NASA hopes to launch another uncrewed Orion from KSC by 2018, on the first test flight of the agency's new Space Launch System rocket. A first mission with astronauts on board is planned by 2022.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com