spacetoday.net: NASA to retain Orion in revised exploration plan

Updated: Wed, Apr 14, 2010, 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT)
Originally Posted: Wed, Apr 14, 2010, 9:26 AM ET (1326 GMT)
Orion spacecraft illustration (Lockheed Martin)

NASA will continue work on a version of the Orion spacecraft as a crew return vehicle for the ISS under a new plan that President Barack Obama will announce on Thursday. Orion, with the rest of Constellation, was to be cancelled under the 2011 budget proposal released in February. However, according to a fact sheet released by the White House late Tuesday, Orion will be retained and reconfigured as a crew return vehicle, launched unmanned to dock with the station and provide the ability to return astronauts in the event of an emergency on the station. The updated plan also calls for a decision by 2015 on the design of a heavy-lift launch vehicle, using the technology development for such work included in the original budget proposal. Other key elements of the original plan appear largely unchanged in the updated plan. Keeping Orion, some observers note, may be a means to mitigate opposition to the plan from some in Congress concerned about job losses and extended reliance on Russia.