The Planetary Society Celebrates Orion’s Maiden Voyage, Congratulates NASA

Pasadena, CA (December 5, 2014) – In response to today's successful maiden voyage of the Orion spacecraft – Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), a two-orbit shakedown cruise designed to test Orion’s critical components – The Planetary Society issued the following statement from Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Vaughn:

Today's Orion voyage is a significant milestone for NASA and the U.S. human spaceflight program. The test flight is a first look at a highly-anticipated set of capabilties which will allow astronauts to venture farther than ever before. The Planetary Society is pleased to see these new exploration capabilities develop and celebrates the successful test flight. We look forward to the next steps for Orion and NASA's human spaceflight program. The Planetary Society encourages the expansion of human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and, eventually, to Mars, and this successful test flight is a meaningful step toward this goal. We congratulate NASA and the dedicated workforce who built Orion on their success.

For real-time reporting and mission updates, visit Jason Davis’ Planetary Society blog and follow him on Twitter @jasonrdavis.