posted 10-24-2012 06:29 PM               

A mockup of NASA's Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV), mounted atop a service module simulator, was lifted in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 19, 2012.

The Orion mockup is exact in details on the outside, but mostly empty on the inside. The work in the VAB is aimed at making sure the designs for Orion's ground processing are accurate.

Orion is an exploration spacecraft designed to carry crews to space beyond low Earth orbit. It will provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

Credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis