WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Orion spacecraft could include astronauts in the first flight atop a new heavy-lift rocket now under development, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced in a press release.
"NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot has asked Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, to initiate a study to assess the feasibility of adding a crew to Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft," the release stated on Wednesday.
Unmanned Orion spacecraft have previously been tested in space using other rockets. The first test of Orion aboard a Space Launch System rocket is currently planned without human passengers.
The release explained that NASA will study the possibility of sending astronauts on the first Space Launch System-Orion flight in an attempt to accelerate efforts to send humans to Mars.
The first Orion piloted mission will be launched no sooner than 2021.
