--- title: A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures description: The un-crewed Orion is intended to orbit 3,600 miles above Earth before it finally crashes into the Pacific Ocean. NASA hopes the spacecraft will ultimately take astronauts into new places–maybe even Mars. canonical: https://time.com/2861381/orion-spacecraft-nasa-photos/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T11:30:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:17.270Z article:section: Science og:title: A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures og:description: NASA hopes the spacecraft will ultimately take astronauts into new places–maybe even Mars. og:url: https://time.com/2861381/orion-spacecraft-nasa-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0db23fa17e05f52c/69876c92e20a875391a83c57/orion-launch-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2650 og:image:height: 1491 og:image:alt: Orion Exploration Flight Test og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures twitter:description: NASA hopes the spacecraft will ultimately take astronauts into new places–maybe even Mars. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0db23fa17e05f52c/69876c92e20a875391a83c57/orion-launch-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9e62f0a8-3b9e-4b2d-866c-fb7fb4735ae9&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 4, 2014 11:30 AM UTC  NASA’s Orion spacecraft awaits its first flight test on Dec. 4, 2014 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida. NASA’s Orion spacecraft awaits its first flight test on Dec. 4, 2014 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Bill Ingalls—NASA by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 4, 2014 11:30 AM UTC  NASA's Orion spacecraft, atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, lifts off on its first unmanned orbital test flight from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 5, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Chris O'Meara—AP  NASA’s Orion spacecraft awaits its first flight test on Dec. 4, 2014 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida. Bill Ingalls—NASA  Team members work to secure a test version of Orion in the Pacific Ocean during a test recovery mission on Sept. 17, 2014. Kim Shiflett—NASA  An artist's illustration of the 38-story launch system with Orion on top. NASA / MSFC  A model of Orion floats above an underwater mockup of the International Space Station in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston on April 25, 2013. Bill Stafford—JSC/NASA  A version of the engine that will power Orion's launch system burns during a hot-fire test on Nov. 27, 2012 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. NASA/SSC  The NASA team at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans completed the final weld on the first space-bound Orion capsule, on June 22, 2012. NASA  Orion's launch system undergoes a hot-fire test. Aerojet Rocketdyne  The Orion capsule sits within the Vehicle Assembly Building on May 24, 2012 in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dmitri Gerondidakis—NASA  An artist's illustration of Orion's Flight Test NASA  The 16.5 ft. diameter, titanium heat shield was fabricated by Lockheed Martin in Denver for the Orion spacecraft. The shield will have to withstand temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Patrick H. Corkery—Lockheed Martin  A test model of the Orion spacecraft was dropped high above the the Arizona desert on Feb. 29, 2012. NASA  Ground teams in White Sands, New Mexico, practice an abort test on Sept. 24, 2009. NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2861381/orion-spacecraft-nasa-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2861381/orion-spacecraft-nasa-photos/"},"headline":"A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures","datePublished":"2014-12-04T11:30:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:17.270Z","description":"The un-crewed Orion is intended to orbit 3,600 miles above Earth before it finally crashes into the Pacific Ocean. 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