NASA Administrator Addresses Media on Orion Recovery Operations Testing

News provided by

Feb 18, 2014, 06:14 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will address media at 9 a.m. PST Saturday, Feb. 22 at U.S. Naval Base San Diego following testing of splashdown recovery operations for the agency's Orion spacecraft.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO)

NASA and the Navy are conducting tests to prepare for recovery of Orion after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of its first space flight, Exploration Flight Test-1, in September. Tests with the USS San Diego off the coast of San Diego Feb. 18-21 will allow teams to demonstrate and evaluate the processes, procedures, hardware and personnel that will be needed for recovery operations.

Media also will see and photograph the Orion test article that will be used during the recovery testing.

Briefing participants also include:

-- Mark Geyer, Orion program manager

-- Mike Generale, NASA recovery director

-- Larry Price, deputy Orion program manager for Lockheed Martin

-- Rear Adm. Frank Ponds, Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Three

International media who want to attend must respond to Brandi Dean at [email protected] or 281-483-5111 by 3 p.m. EST Wed., Feb. 19. U.S. media must respond to Dean by 6 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 20.

Journalists must meet at the Naval Base San Diego Pass/ID office at 7:45 a.m. Feb. 22, for a security sweep in order to gain access to the base. The Naval Base San Diego Pass/ID Office is located north of the main gate (Gate 6) on Harbor Drive and 32nd Street.

Orion is America's new spacecraft that will take astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have an emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space. During Exploration Flight Test-1, an uncrewed spacecraft will travel to approximately 3,600 miles in altitude before returning to Earth at speeds as fast as 20,000 mph and temperatures above 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit to evaluate the spacecraft's heat shield and other systems.

For more information about the USS San Diego (LPD 22), visit:

http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/LPD22

For more information about Orion Program:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion

SOURCE NASA