HOUSTON – NASA is building a new spacecraft to carry humans farther than ever before – and Northern California media are invited to learn more about it May 14 through May 16 when program managers are in the Golden State to work with local companies.

Orion will have the ability to send humans to asteroids and eventually Mars. Its first uncrewed test flight will take place next year, when it will be launched farther into space than any spacecraft designed for humans has gone in more than 40 years, and return to Earth at speeds greater than 20,000 miles per hour.

While in California for program meetings, several managers of the team designing NASA’s Orion spacecraft will be speaking with the public and available for interviews. Contact Brandi Dean at brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov to take part in either of these opportunities. Additional opportunities are also available upon request.

On Tuesday, May 14, John Casper, a former astronaut and Orion’s special assistant for program integration, will be speaking at the Aerospace Museum of California in Mcclellan at 6 p.m. He and Larry Price, the Orion deputy program manager for Lockheed Martin, Orion’s prime contractor; and Sam Wiley, director for human space at Aerojet, whose Sacramento facility will this summer conduct testing of the fully integrated Orion crew module propulsion system in its Hot Fire Test Assembly, will be available for interviews between 4 and 5 p.m.

On Wednesday, May 15, Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer and Deputy Program Manager Mark Kirasich, along with Casper and Price, will be available for interviews at Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, Calif., where engineers are preparing to test the system that will jettison the panels covering Orion’s service module following launch.

On Thursday, May 16, Price will speak at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. The event begins at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. Price will be available for interviews between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.

More information – including photos, videos and b-roll -on the Orion program can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/orion