STORY HIGHLIGHTS <\/p>\n
(CNN) -- It's the biggest countdown for NASA since the shuttle era ended in 2011. The space agency's new Orion spacecraft is scheduled to lift off on an uncrewed test flight at 7:05 a.m. ET Thursday from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. <\/p>\n
\"We haven't had this feeling in awhile, since the end of the shuttle program,\" Mike Sarafin, Orion flight director at Johnson Space Center, said in a preflight briefing on Wednesday. He said it's the beginning of something new: exploring deep space. <\/p>\n
Orion looks like a throwback to the Apollo era, but it is roomier and designed to go far beyond the moon: to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. <\/p>\n
\"It is, I think, consistent with those -- the beginning of shuttle and beginning of Apollo,\" said Mark Geyer, NASA Orion program manager. \"I think it's in the same category.\" <\/p>\n
Orion -- NASA's next giant leap <\/p>\n
Orion -- NASA's next giant leap <\/p>\n
Orion -- NASA's next giant leap <\/p>\n
Orion -- NASA's next giant leap <\/p>\n
Orion -- NASA's next giant leap <\/p>\n
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NASA 'go' for its next giant leap<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STORY HIGHLIGHTS (CNN) -- It's the biggest countdown for NASA since the shuttle era ended in 2011. The space agency's new Orion spacecraft is scheduled to lift off on an uncrewed test flight at 7:05 a.m Continue reading