NASA's first Orion space capsule has just arrived on its launch site

NASA is going ahead with the assembly of its Orion crew capsule for the first large – scale test flight of the new system, thanks to a special delivery of the. European Space Agency (ESA).

The European Service Module is responsible for the power, air and water of the Orion capsule – and now that the first module of this type has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers can start to connect the set that will fly around the moon in 2020.

"I kind of wanted to go and greet him in my arms, but they did not let me do that," said Bill Hill, deputy assistant administrator of NASA for the development of the systems. exploration, at a NASA press conference announcing the safe arrival of the site. service module. [Spectacular Photos: NASA Practices Orion Capsule Recovery at Sea]

NASA and ESA engineers who have traveled with the module have already confirmed that the segment has not suffered any damage while traveling across the Atlantic. Now, it's about integrating and testing, integrating and testing, over and over again until the spacecraft is ready to fly, "said Mark Kirasich, manager. NASA's Orion program at the press conference.

The first connection will unite the service module and the crew module adapter, which requires precise alignment of units and installation of 192 bolts. "Alignment is an essential part of the process, it takes a little bit of time," said Amy Marasia, who oversees the assembly of the crew module for the next flight, at the conference . "We are bringing together two elements that have been built on different sides of the ocean, so we have to wait for it a bit."

Then, the pair will be moved into a clean room for welding – then into a special room that can be filled with helium so that the team can check for leaks in these welds. The team will then install systems, such as the Star Tracker, to help astronauts calculate their location, and establish electrical connections throughout the unit.

All this before even powering the power switch, which is currently scheduled for January 2019. Once the operation is complete, NASA staff will conduct extensive environmental testing on them. attached modules in February and March.

Assuming everything goes well, the crew capsule itself will be connected in May, when the whole assembly will travel to Ohio for more than two months of additional testing. Once this process is complete, the package will be shipped back to Florida for its 2020 flight.

Although ESA has spent seven years designing and building this service module, it could not actually power a crewed flight because it does not quite meet the NASA limit for concerns the weight that ESA could fill. This is due to the changing requirements of the module over the years.

There is no oxygen tank in the module, for example – which is good, without astronauts to breathe it. The next service module from ESA, which will perform the first Orion crewed flight, will carry this tank and will include other design components that were not yet ready for this unit.

"We had to go on a diet, every day we had to go on a diet and, well, you know what's going on with diets … You make an effort for a few weeks, then something happens and you lose everything "said Philippe Deloo. , ESA Program Manager for the European Service Module, said at the press conference. "We have been on a diet for about seven years."

Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.