Lockheed Martin has been hard at work on the Orion spacecraft for a long while. The Orion spacecraft is more like the capsules used in the Apollo era than the space shuttle that has been retired from service. The first big milestone for the Orion project is coming in 2014 when NASA hopes to be able test spacecraft during orbits of the earth.
The specific date in 2014 has not been confirmed, but we do know a few tidbits about the maiden flight of the Orion capsule. The maiden flight will be an unmanned mission with the rocket carrying the Orion taking off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Orion will make two orbits of the Earth on its first flight. After those two orbits, the Orion capsule will reenter the atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean where it will be retrieved.
via Slashgear
