EFT-1 Update: Unpacking the DCSS...

Last week, engineers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida removed from its crate the second stage motor that the Orion spacecraft will use to reach an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth on Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1...scheduled for launch this December. Known as the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage, or DCSS, the motor is a substitute for the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will be used to boost Orion out of Earth's gravity once the capsule finally heads towards deep space via NASA's Space Launch System in 2017. The DCSS arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station about a week ago, aboard a barge that also carried the port-side core booster and an adapter which will connect Orion to its Delta IV Heavy rocket for EFT-1.


NASA / Kim Shiflett