Pair of U.S. Military Satellite Launches Push First Flight of Orion to December

摘要

The maiden flight of Orion, the deep-space vessel NASA is building for future crewed missions beyond Earth orbit, was bumped to December from late September to accommodate military satellite launches, the agency said. "The Air Force came to us this month asking us to move [the Orion launch] to December to help alleviate a busy manifest, and we agreed," NASA spokeswoman Rachel Kraft said in a March 17 email. NASA disclosed the schedule change in a March 14 mission update.