European Module For Orion Spacecraft Shows Teamwork Needed To Reach Moon, Mars - NASA

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th November, 2018) The European-made Service Module, which will propel, power and cool Orion space craft that will return humans to the moon and possibly Mars, is being hailed as example of multinational cooperation that will provide technology and equipment for deep-space exploration, Kennedy Space Center Associate Director Kelvin Manning said on Thursday.

"The European Service Module is key to powering the Orion spacecraft, taking humans further into space than any other spacecraft before," Manning said at an event at the Kennedy Space Center. "This is also about progress. This piece of flight hardware is an example of what can be achieved by working across space agencies, countries, and industry."

Manning added that the future of innovation that will be needed for deep-space exploration "lies along a path of [international] cooperation and collaboration.

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Manning was speaking at an event marking NASA's formal acceptance of delivery from the European Space Agency (ESA) of the service module for the Orion spacecraft.

"After Orion launches on top of NASA's Space Launch System rocket - which is now being built - the service module will be responsible for in-space maneuvering throughout the mission, including course corrections," NASA explained in an earlier press release. "The service module will also provide the powerful burns to insert Orion into lunar orbit and again to get out of lunar orbit and return to Earth."

NASA plans to send the Orion spacecraft around the moon in an unmanned test flight in 2020, with human crewed missions orbiting the moon follow.