EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Air Force loadmasters oversee the unloading of the full-scale Orion abort test crew module mockup from a C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft here March 28. A full-scale flight-test mockup of the Constellation program's Orion crew vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center here to undergo preparations for the first short-range flight test of the spacecraft's astronaut escape system later this year. Engineers and technicians at NASA's Langley Research Center fabricated the structure, which precisely represents the size, outer shape and mass characteristics of the Orion space capsule. (NASA photo by Tony Landis)
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Ground crewmen with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center here escort the boilerplate Orion crew module down the Edwards flightline to Dryden on April 1 after the module was painted in the Edwards paint hangar. (NASA photo by Tony Landis)