Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1 (previously known as Orion Flight Test 1 or OFT-1) was the first test flight of the crew module portion of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Without a crew, it was launched on December 5, 2014, at 12:05 UTC (7:05 am EST), by a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Exploration Flight Test-1

Launch of EFT-1 on December 5, 2014
Names	Orion Flight Test-1 (OFT-1)
Mission type	Uncrewed test flight
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2014-077A
SATCAT no.	40329
Mission duration	4 hours, 24 minutes
Orbits completed	2
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Orion CM-001
Spacecraft type	Orion MPCV
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Start of mission
Launch date	December 5, 2014, 12:05 (2014-12-05UTC12:05Z) UTC (07:05 EST)[1][2]
Rocket	Delta IV Heavy
Launch site	Cape Canaveral SLC-37B
Contractor	United Launch Alliance
End of mission
Recovered by	USS Anchorage
Landing date	December 5, 2014, 16:29 (2014-12-05UTC16:30Z) UTC
Landing site	Pacific Ocean, 640 miles (1,030 km) SSE of San Diego 23.61°N 114.46°W / 23.61; -114.46 (EFT-1 splashdown)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Apogee altitude	5,800 kilometres (3,604 mi)
Orion program ← Pad Abort 1 Ascent Abort-2 →

The mission was a four-hour, two-orbit test of the Orion crew module featuring a high apogee on the second orbit and concluding with a high-energy reentry at around 8.9 kilometers per second (20,000 mph).[3] This mission design corresponds to the Apollo 2/3 missions of 1966, which validated the Apollo flight control system and heat shield at re-entry conditions planned for the return from lunar missions.

NASA heavily promoted the mission, collaborating with Sesame Street and its characters to educate children about the flight test and the Orion spacecraft.[4]

Objectives

The flight was intended to test various Orion systems, including separation events, avionics, heat shielding, parachutes, and recovery operations prior to its flight aboard the Space Launch System on the Artemis 1 mission. Artemis 1 is planned for launch no earlier than November 2022,[5] more than seven years after EFT-1.

Vehicle assembly

EFT-1 Orion was built by Lockheed Martin.[6] On June 22, 2012, the final welds of the EFT-1 Orion were completed at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.[6] It was then transported to Kennedy Space Center's Operations and Checkout Building, where the remainder of the spacecraft was completed.[7] The Delta IV rocket was put in a vertical position on October 1, 2014, and Orion was mated with the vehicle on November 11.[8][9][10]

Flight

The four-and-a-half-hour flight took the Orion spacecraft on two orbits of Earth. Peak altitude was approximately 5,800 kilometres (3,600 mi). The high altitude allowed the spacecraft to reach reentry speeds of up to 8.9 km/s (20,000 mph), which exposed the heat shield to temperatures up to around 2,200 °C (4,000 °F).[3][11]

During the flight, the crew module, a structural representation of the service module, a partial launch abort system containing only the jettison motor, and Orion-to-stage adapter were evaluated.[11] The spacecraft remained attached to the dummy service module on the Delta IV's upper stage until re-entry began and relied on internal batteries for power rather than photovoltaic arrays, which were not contained in the structural representation.[12] Data gathered from the test flight were analyzed by the critical design review (CDR) in April 2015.[13]

After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, crews from the USS Anchorage recovered the EFT-1 Orion crew vehicle. Plans were later made to outfit the capsule for an ascent abort test in 2017.[15]

Launch attempts

Post-flight disposition of capsule

The Orion capsule used for EFT-1 is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in the "NASA Now" exhibit.[16]

Gallery

• 
  First weld on the EFT-1 Orion structure, September 2011
• 
  Orion structure after final weld, June 2012, at the Michoud Assembly Facility
• 
  Orion's Service Module prior to encapsulation, December 2013, in the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C)
• 
  EFT-1 Orion Weight and Center of Gravity Test, June 2014
• 
  EFT-1 Orion back shell tile installation, September 2014
• 
  Completed EFT-1 Orion, September 2014
• 
  EFT-1 Orion in fairing and with LES, October 2014
• 
  EFT-1 Orion on its Delta IV Heavy, November 2014
• 
  The EFT-1 Orion before splashdown, 5 December 2014
• 
  Recovery of the EFT-1 Orion by the USS Anchorage, 5 December 2014
• 
  Recovery of Orion capsule
• 
  Recovery of Orion capsule

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Exploration Flight Test-1.

• Orion MPCV homepage (NASA)
• EFT-1 Fact sheet (NASA)
• EFT-1 Press kit (NASA)
• Animation of the EFT-1 mission (NASA)
• Video of the launch of EFT-1 – 5 December 2014 (NASA)
• Video of the landing of the EFT-1 Orion – 5 December 2014 (NASA/U.S. Navy)
• Orion GTA-1 fabrication and configuration, Delta 4 Heavy images^{[permanent dead link]}

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