NASA's Orion project next step to sending man to Mars

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- T-14 days and counting. NASA is planning to launch its Orion capsule on Friday, December 4 from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission, labeled "Exploration Flight Test 1" is designed to prove the systems on board the space vehicle.

Orion was built following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011.

"We want to go to Mars someday. We want to take humans there and so this is that first step for us," says Steve Stich who is NASA's director of exploration integration and science.

Orion will liftoff on top of a Delta IV Heavy rocket and will orbit earth twice before reaching its highest altitude on this mission, 3,600 statute miles. That's 15 times further than the International Space Station. Key radiation data will be gathered, as the craft moves beyond the protective "Van Allen Belts" which help shield earth from radiation. Once at its highest point, Orion will take a picture looking back toward Earth, the furthest picture taken of our planet from a spacecraft since the Apollo era, according to mission managers.

After 4.5 hours, Orion will begin its trek home, reaching speeds exceeding 20,000 miles per hour and 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If all goes as planned, a specially designed heat shield will help protect the capsule from those extreme temperatures. The vehicle will be slowed by 11 parachutes and will splashdown 200 miles off Baja California in the Pacific Ocean. It will be retrieved by NASA and the US Navy.

"It's very important that these systems operate safely and effectively," says NASA Deputy Orion program manager Mark Kirasich.

Data gathered in this test will then be incorporated into possible changes to Orion. NASA manifests show one more unmanned test flight of Orion after EFT-1, then the first crewed test possibly as soon as 2021. NASA is hoping to land humans on Mars by sometime in the 2030s.