Preparing for a Trip to Mars as NASA Astronauts Train on Orion Spacecraft

The test crew is all suited in their spacesuits to fully test the Orion spacecraft as well as their ability to maneuver the spacecraft control systems when they are in their full gear.

Built to perfection, this spacecraft will be NASA's next space delivery mechanism, capable of transporting human payload into not just orbit but well beyond Earth. This vehicle is what NASA is pinning their hopes on to eventually send people to the red planet.

"Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are evaluating how crews inside a mockup of the Orion spacecraft interact with the rotational hand controller and cursor control device while inside their Modified Advanced Crew Escape spacesuits. The controllers are used to operate Orion's displays and control system, which the crew will use to maneuver and interact with the spacecraft during missions to deep space destinations," NASA officials wrote on their website.

This vehicle is designed to transfer a total of four astronauts below Low-Earth orbit. Ever since the space shuttle program retired in 2011, United States has not developed any new methods of taking people into space. Saturn V, that retired in 1973, was the last vehicle to carry humans into LEO.

According to the NASA mission planners, they are certain that they will be able to land human crew safely into the red planet in 20 years. The test flight was conducted and verified in 2014 when an empty capsule was made to complete two orbits of the Earth, carrying critical safety equipment.

"NASA's Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they've ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities," NASA officials report in an overview of the upcoming spacecraft.