spacetoday.net: Orion rolled out to launch pad for December test flight

Posted: Wed, Nov 12, 2014, 8:23 AM ET (1323 GMT)
Orion EFT-1 rollout to SLC-37 (NASA/KSC)

After a one-day delay because of weather, an Orion spacecraft rolled out to its launch pad late Tuesday night as it prepares for a test launch next month. The Orion spacecraft took a circuitous route at Cape Canaveral from a processing facility to Space Launch Complex 37, where it will be attached to the Delta 4 Heavy rocket on the pad there. The rollout was scheduled for Monday night but postponed because of weather. The Delta 4 Heavy is scheduled to launch December 4 on the Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) mission, sending the uncrewed Orion into an elliptical Earth orbit, completing two orbits before splashing down in the Pacific off the California coast. EFT-1 is designed to test reentry and other systems on the Orion spacecraft prior to a flight on the first Space Launch System in late 2017 or 2018.