Years of Hard Work to Get to Launch

The Orion spacecraft that sits atop the Delta IV Heavy arrived at Kennedy Space Center in the summer of 2012 so it could be assembled from a pressure vessel into a full-functioning spacecraft. Lockheed Martin built up a factory floor and assembly area for the spacecraft at Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Building – recently named for humanity’s first moonwalker, Neil Armstrong. Take a look at the steps involved with building a spacecraft and stacking the rocket to set up today’s lift off and flight.