NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

The Orion

NASA took what they learnt from the previous designs of spacefaring vehicles, and crammed every good idea into the Orion, while leaving out the not-so-good.

Crew loadout is slightly smaller, holding six crew for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS), or four on a trip to the moon. It's got a capacity for up to 21.1 days of flight in terms of rations, and the crew module has up to 694lbs (314.8kg) of oxygen/nitrogen and water.

It weighs in at a slightly larger amount of mass than the Space Shuttle to launch if it's headed to the moon, tipping 48,231lbs (21,877.2kg, or 21 tonnes), but also includes a Launch Abort System that protects the crew module if anything goes awry during the mission, capable of decoupling with the rocket superstructure and pulling them away safely.

Living space of the Orion Crew Module is only 316 cubic feet, or 8.95m³. That's about the same space that's inside a concrete mixing truck, but it's got to cram people, food, equipment, clothing and everything into that space - looks very cramped when you consider what is in it.

Initially the Orion is intended to only replace the Space Shuttle, but future missions may see it all the way to Mars and back - man might step on red soil before the end of the century after all.

Give the PDF a read for some technical details and a separate description of each part of the Orion.

NASA's Orion Crew Module prototype