NASA Invites Media To View Ongoing Orion And Testing Work At Kennedy Jan. 30

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media are invited to a photo and interview opportunity at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 30, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Journalists will visit Kennedy's Swamp Works research laboratories and the facility where NASA's Orion spacecraft is being prepared for its first launch.

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Kennedy Director Bob Cabana will provide a status update on the center's transformation to a multiuse government and commercial space launch and recovery complex. Media must be at Kennedy's press site by 9:30 a.m. for transportation to the sites.

Journalists will be able to see and photograph the research and technology work going on in the laboratories and the progress being made on the Orion crew module at Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building. NASA officials will be available for interviews at both locations.

News media without Kennedy accreditation need to apply for credentials by noon on Jan. 29. International media accreditation for this event is closed. Media accreditation for the scheduled Jan. 30 Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K launch will be honored for the event. Media must apply for credentials online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Badges for the Swamp Works and Operations and Checkout Building event may be picked up at the Kennedy Space Center Badging Office on State Road 405.

Kennedy's Swamp Works establishes rapid, innovative and cost-effective exploration mission solutions through leveraging of partnerships across NASA, industry and academia. Concepts start small and build up fast, with lean development processes and a hands-on approach. Testing is performed in early stages to drive design improvements. Capabilities include the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Laboratory, Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory, Regolith Activities Testbed and the Robotics Integration, Checkout and Assembly Area.

In a revamped area of the Operations and Checkout building, NASA employees and Lockheed Martin contractors are working side by side to prepare Orion for Exploration Flight Test-1 next year. Orion is designed to take U.S. astronauts farther into space than ever before.

The Orion spacecraft, managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, will be launched on missions by NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft from Kennedy for crew and cargo missions, SLS will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages SLS. Kennedy manages the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, which is preparing to process and launch the next-generation vehicles and spacecraft designed to achieve NASA's goals for space exploration.

For more information about the Orion program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion  

For more information on SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls

For more information about the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/groundsystems

SOURCE NASA