Completely surrounded by a massive 20-foot-high structure called the crew module static load test fixture, the Orion crew module is being put through a series of tests that simulate the massive loads the spacecraft would experience during its mission.
The first NASA spacecraft designed to fly astronauts beyond Earth orbit since the Apollo era of yore is apparently well on its way to making a flight test next year.
In space, dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust are the birthplaces of new stars. In visible light, this dust is often dark and obscuring, concealing the stars behind it.
The European Space Agency is teaming up with NASA for a mission that will take human beings beyond Earth orbit for the first time in 40 years - and eventually, it says, further than ever before.
