spacetoday.net: NASA pushes back first crewed Orion flight to 2023

NASA pushes back first crewed Orion flight to 2023

Posted: Sat, Sep 19, 2015, 12:23 PM ET (1623 GMT)
Orion with ATV-based service module (ESA)

The first flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft with astronauts on board may not take place until the spring of 2023, more than 18 months later than previously planned, agency officials said this week. NASA said the outcome of the review of the Orion pegged the cost of developing Orion, from this October through its first crewed flight, at $6.77 billion, and set a first flight no later than April 23 with a 70-percent confidence level. Agency officials said that while they were still maintaining an internal goal of a first crewed launch in August 2021, anticipated "unknown unknowns" during development would likely cause that first launch to slip. That delay will not affect the first uncrewed Orion launch on the SLS, scheduled for the fall of 2018.