SpaceX delivers for Intelsat 35 on heavyweight Falcon 9 mission

Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rumbled into the sky Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, flexing the rocket’s muscles and lofting a massive Intelsat satellite to orbit supporting wireless communications, television broadcasting and trans-Atlantic data relays.

Recovering from back-to-back countdown aborts earlier in the week, the two-stage, 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher lit nine Merlin 1D main engines and rocketed away from pad 39A at the Florida spaceport at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT) Wednesday.

The slender white booster pivoted 1.7 million pounds of thrust from its main engines to steer eastward from the Space Coast, powering through the speed of sound as the kerosene-fueled first stage climbed above the stratosphere.

The nine-engine first stage shut down less than three minutes after liftoff, and the booster dropped away with the help of pneumatic pushers for a destructive plunge into the Atlantic Ocean.

Wednesday’s mission — the third SpaceX launch in 12 days — carried the Boeing-built Intelsat 35e communications satellite toward a perch in geostationary orbit 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) over the equator.

The commercial spacecraft weighed around 14,900 pounds (6,761 kilograms) at launch, the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched to such a high orbit. SpaceX committed all of the Falcon 9’s propellant to send the Intelsat satellite into the highest orbit possible, a ride designed to minimize the spacecraft’s own fuel consumption as it maneuvers into its final operating position.

The lift requirement left no fuel in the Falcon 9’s first stage to brake for landing, and the rocket was not equipped with landing legs or fins needed for an intact recovery.

Two firings of the upper stage’s single Merlin engine placed the Intelsat 35e spacecraft into a temporary oval-shaped orbit that ranges as far as 26,700 miles (43,000 kilometers) from Earth, according to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and chief executive.

After a half-hour trek across the Atlantic, the Falcon 9 deployed Intelsat 35e around 32 minutes into the flight. An on-board camera beamed back a live view of the satellite receding into the blackness of space.

Intelsat confirmed later Wednesday night that the spacecraft radioed controllers via a ground station, suggesting the satellite was healthy following the fiery journey into space.

“Thanks Intelsat!” Musk tweeted. “Really proud of the rocket and SpaceX team today.”

Wednesday’s launch wrapped up a busy two weeks for SpaceX, in which the company deployed 12 satellites on three Falcon 9 rockets, including a previously-flown booster that sent the first Bulgarian-owned communications spacecraft into orbit June 23 from pad 39A.

Two days later, a Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and successfully placed 10 next-generation Iridium voice and data relay satellites into orbit.

Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now

SpaceX intended to launch the Intelsat 35e mission Sunday, but software errors led to computer-triggered aborts at T-minus 10 seconds during back-to-back countdowns Sunday and Monday.

John Insprucker, the Falcon 9’s principal integration engineer who provided launch commentary on SpaceX’s webcast, said ground software halted Monday’s launch attempt because a measurement in the first stage avionics system did not match a pre-programmed limit in a ground database.

He said engineers confirmed the rocket was OK to fly without any changes to flight hardware, and officials modified the limit for Wednesday’s launch attempt.

The countdown Wednesday sailed through the T-minus 10 second software readiness check, and the rocket’s 32-minute ascent appeared to go smoothly.

The weight and destination orbit of Intelsat 35e maxed out the lift capability of the current configuration of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, according to Ken Lee, Intelsat’s senior vice president of space systems.

Besides the need to fly the rocket without recovery equipment, the Falcon 9’s upper stage was programmed to continue firing until its propellant tanks were nearly empty during the engine’s second burn. Rockets typically aim for a certain altitude and shut off their engines after reaching their target.

That left some uncertainty in where Intelsat 35e would end up, and Lee said in a pre-launch interview that the Falcon 9 rocket needed to send the satellite into an orbit stretching to a peak altitude of at least 19,405 miles (31,230 kilometers), per an agreement between SpaceX and Intelsat.

It turns out the Falcon 9 exceeded that requirement, placing its satellite passenger into a better-than-predicted orbit.

Intelsat 35e’s own rocket thruster will reshape its orbit in the next few weeks at a circular altitude of nearly 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers). The satellite will raise the low point of its current transfer orbit, which currently swings as low as a few hundred miles up, and shift its ground track from the tropics to a path directly over the equator.

The satellite will park itself at 34.5 degrees west longitude, where it will remain in lock-step with Earth’s rotation during a 15-year lifetime.

The Intelsat 35e satellite is pictured preparing for shipment from its Boeing factory in El Segundo, California, to Cape Canaveral for launch. Credit: Intelsat

Hosting C-band and Ku-band communications payloads, Intelsat 35e is the fourth “Epic-class” relay satellite developed and launched by Intelsat, joining three previous versions orbited by European Ariane 5 rockets.

The latest generation of Intelsat satellites carry all-digital payloads, giving the company added flexibility in how it beams video, voice and data signals.

“In this version, what we do is we actually digitize all the traffic that comes to the spacecraft, and once you’re in a digital domain, you can do so many things,” Lee said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. “You can put it into the beams that you want to, or you can put it into all the beams, or any one of the beams for different connectivity.”

Intelsat 35e can process about 20 gigabits of data per second, routing television programming and mobile phone calls across its field-of-view. Intelsat said its newest satellite will primarily support wireless communications operators in Africa and Latin America, offer broadband services to cruise ships, and broadcast television to Caribbean customers for the French company Canal+.

Parts of Europe and North America will also fall inside Intelsat 35e’s communications coverage area.

Intelsat did not disclose the cost of the Intelsat 35e, but a spokesperson said the company’s Epic satellites typically cost between $300 million and $425 million each.

“Companies including Orange, INWI, Tele Greenland, Sonatel, Marlink, Speedcast, ETECSA and eProcess will be among the first to deploy services on the satellite once it is placed into service,” Intelsat said in a press release after Wednesday’s launch.

Intelsat 35e will replace the aging Intelsat 903 satellite at the 34.5 degrees west position. The older satellite, which launched on a Russian Proton rocket in March 2002, will be repositioned to a new coverage area before the end of the year, Intelsat said.

Artist’s illustration of the Intelsat 35e satellite in orbit, with its antenna reflectors and solar arrays extended. Credit: Intelsat

SpaceX will slow its rapid-fire launch campaign in the coming weeks as it gears up for the next Falcon 9 launch from the Kennedy Space Center. That mission is scheduled to blast off Aug. 10 with several tons of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station, followed by up to two more Falcon 9s later in August from California and Florida.

SpaceX’s three launches in a little more than 12 days, including two from the same pad, gave the company 10 successful Falcon 9 flights just past the halfway mark of 2017.

The launch record this year has already set a record for the most launches by SpaceX in a single year. The previous high was eight flights, achieved last year before a Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral, destroying an Israeli-owned communications satellite, damaging SpaceX’s primary launch pad, and grounding the company’s rockets more than four months.

“Our priority is to reliably launch our customers,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement following Wednesday’s mission. “SpaceX is able to attempt three launches for three customers in 12 days not only because we have the rockets, launch pads and droneships at the ready, but because we have the teams on the ground to get the job done.

“We are pleased with the progress we are making this year to launch and recover our rockets, which is key towards achieving full and rapid rocket reusability,” Shotwell said.

Before Wednesday’s expendable Falcon 9 launch, the last two missions featured booster landings at sea on separate SpaceX barges stationed in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

As for Intelsat, one of the world’s biggest and oldest commercial satellite operators, the company currently has no further missions booked with SpaceX, Lee said.

“Nevertheless, when there is an opportunity, we consider SpaceX to be a viable option for us, and we’ll engage them,” Lee said. “If the payload works out right with them, then we don’t have any reservation using SpaceX.”

Atlas 5 powers covert reconnaissance payload to orbit on its 70th mission

Performing a successful spacelift mission for the U.S. spy satellite agency, an Atlas 5 rocket delivered a surveillance package into orbit today believed by analysts to be another pair of tandem sleuths to scoop up radio signals from adversarial ships at sea.

Liftoff came at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as the 191-foot-tall vehicle headed for space on its 70th mission.

The kerosene-fed RD-180 main engine powered the rocket off the pad at Space Launch Complex 3-East on South Vandenberg with 860,000 pounds of thrust.

It was a four-minute flight for the first stage before the cryogenic Centaur upper stage took over. The mission went into a news blackout once the 14-foot-diameter nose cone enclosing the payload was jettisoned about five minutes of liftoff.

The Centaur likely conducted two firings separated by a long coast period to achieve the 63-degree orbit for release of the payloads, thought to be two formation-flying satellites that will operate 700 miles above Earth.

The discard stage then was expected to be de-orbited into the Pacific, several hundred miles off Chile, to avoid space junk and a future uncontrolled re-entry.

Official launch portrait. Credit: United Launch Alliance

But analysts and satellite observers agree that today’s launch marked the eighth time since 2001 than an Atlas rocket of some configuration has deployed satellites to refresh the Naval Ocean Surveillance System, or NOSS. It was ULA’s fifth NOSS launch.

“NOSS satellites locate and track ships at sea by detecting their radio transmissions and analyzing them using the TDOA (time-difference-of-arrival) technique,” said Ted Molczan, a respected monitor of spacecraft.

“Normally, under favorable circumstances, these satellites reach magnitude +5, observable with 7×50 binoculars. Occasionally, they brighten to magnitude +2 to +4, readily visible to the un-aided eye. Rarely, they rival the brightest stars.”

Atlas launches for NOSS over the last 15.5 years have come from both Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral in Florida. This was the sixth to originate on the West Coast, and NOSS was the original customer that sparked revitalization of the SLC-3E pad in the late 1990s.

The current era is distinguished by two satellites, launched by the same rocket, working in tandem. The pairs of satellites, weighing an estimated 14,000 pounds at launch, orbit in close proximity to each other as they circle the Earth.

Previous generations of NOSS missions featured three satellites working as triplets. There were 11 of those launches to reach orbit between 1976 and 1996.

The NROL-79 mission logo. Credit: NRO

The NRO is the secretive government agency responsible for the country’s fleet of spy satellites. Agency officials don’t publicly disclose the identities or uses of satellites carried aboard its launches.

The NRO was created in 1961 and operated in total secrecy as a black organization until its existence was declassified in 1992. It began acknowledging in advance the launches of its payloads in 1996.

Today, the agency operates imaging and eavesdropping spacecraft, naval surveillance birds and data-relay satellites for the constellations.

The satellites serve as the country’s eyes and ears, operating in various orbits, to collect data for civilian leadership and warfighters.

“These systems provide the foundation for global situational awareness, and address the nation’s toughest intelligence challenges. Frequently, NRO systems are the only collectors able to access critical areas of interest, and data from overhead sensors provides unique information and perspectives not available from other sources,” according the agency.

“The NRO’s key customers and mission partners include: policymakers, the armed services, the intelligence community, Departments of State, Justice and Treasury, and civil agencies. All of them depend on the unique capabilities NRO systems provide.”

NRO duties range from monitoring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and tracking international terrorists to developing highly accurate military targeting data and bomb damage assessments.

“With its vigilance from above, the NRO gives America’s policymakers, intelligence analysts, warfighters and homeland security specialists the critical information they need to keep America safe, secure and free,” the NRO says.

The NRO has at least four more launches planned this year.



Today marked the 141st successful Atlas program launch in a row spanning more than two decades, the 70th for an Atlas 5 and the 117th in 123 months for United Launch Alliance.

In its 70 trips to space, the Atlas 5 has performed 26 flights dedicated to the Defense Department, 16 commercial missions, 14 for NASA and 14 for the National Reconnaissance Office.

This was the 46th time that the NRO had acknowledging one of its launches in advance since starting that practice in 1996, and the 24th to fly from Vandenberg.

** ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES FOR NRO **

AV-009: NROL-30 using Atlas 5-401 (June 15, 2007) Cape
AV-015: NROL-24 using Atlas 5-401 (Dec. 10, 2007) Cape
AV-006: NROL-28 using Atlas 5-411 (March 13, 2008) Vandenberg
AV-025: NROL-41 using Atlas 5-501 (Sept. 20, 2010) Vandenberg
AV-027: NROL-34 using Atlas 5-411 (April 14, 2011) Vandenberg
AV-023: NROL-38 using Atlas 5-401 (June 20, 2012) Cape
AV-033: NROL-36 using Atlas 5-401 (Sept. 13, 2012) Vandenberg
AV-042: NROL-39 using Atlas 5-501 (Dec. 5, 2013) Vandenberg
AV-045: NROL-67 using Atlas 5-541 (April 10, 2014) Cape
AV-046: NROL-33 using Atlas 5-401 (May 22, 2014) Cape
AV-051: NROL-35 using Atlas 5-541 (Dec. 13, 2014) Vandenberg
AV-058: NROL-55 using Atlas 5-401 (Oct. 8, 2015) Vandenberg
AV-065: NROL-61 using Atlas 5-421 (July 28, 2016) Cape
AV-068: NROL-79 using Atlas 5-401 (March 1, 2017) Vandenberg

NROL-79 was the first of back-to-back NRO missions by Atlas 5 from the West Coast. NROL-42 is planned for June using a powerful variant with four strap-on solid rocket boosters.

“We are already pressing on with L-42,” said Lt. Col. Eric Zarybnisky, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander and the Air Force launch director at Vandenberg. “We have received the booster and some other flight hardware. So we will launch L-79 and roll right into L-42. In fact, we are going to start working L-47, a Delta out here, shortly after that. So no rest for the weary here at Vandenberg for a little while.”

The next Atlas 5 will occur from Cape Canaveral on March 19 to send a commercial cargo ship to the International Space Station.

https://spaceflightnow.com

Atlas 5 rocket to launch space station cargo delivery mission in March

File photo of Atlas 5 launch. Credit: ULA

CAPE CANAVERAL — Calling on the Atlas 5 rocket to flex its muscles one more time, Orbital ATK will partner with United Launch Alliance once again to send a massive load of supplies to the International Space Station astronauts early next year.

In what becomes the first rocket flight booked under ULA’s new RapidLaunch contracting service to substantially shorten the time between signing a contract and liftoff, this new launch is scheduled to occur just four months from now.

The Atlas 5 will launch the Cygnus cargo freighter to the station in March, departing from Cape Canaveral on Orbital ATK’s commercial OA-7 cargo-delivery mission.

“This plan…allows NASA to again capitalize on the operational flexibility built into Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft to assure the space station receives a steady and uninterrupted flow of vital supplies, equipment and scientific experiments,” Orbital ATK said in a statement today.

It will be the third such launch for the rocket and automated ship, following successes last December and this past March, as part of Orbital ATK’s space station resupply contract issued by NASA to ensure a steady supply line to the station from U.S. soil.

But with NASA’s other commercial delivery firm — the SpaceX fleet and Dragon capsules — currently grounded and having already missed a planned November cargo run, the agency is relying on Orbital ATK, the Russians and Japanese to bring the needed food, clothing, spare parts and experiments to the space station.

The new Atlas 5 launch will enable Orbital ATK to deliver a heavier load of cargo and NASA believes in the dependability of the rocket.

“Following a successful Antares launch for the recent OA-5 Commercial Resupply Services mission and subsequent rendezvous and berthing of the Cygnus spacecraft with the International Space Station, Orbital ATK has responded to NASA’s needs for enhanced schedule assurance for cargo deliveries and maximum capacity of critical supplies to the space station in 2017 by once again partnering with United Launch Alliance to launch Cygnus aboard an Atlas 5 for the upcoming OA-7 mission in the spring timeframe,” Orbital ATK said in a statement today.

“The company will be ready to support three cargo resupply missions to the station next year, and will work with NASA to finalize the flight schedule.”

Cygnus at the space station. Credit: NASA

A Cygnus reached the station last month with over 5,000 pounds of supplies after launching atop Orbital ATK’s own Antares rocket. It was the first such flight for the booster in two years, a lull instigated by the 2014 explosion of an Antares and Orbital ATK’s decision to replace the main engines with a different design.

But the more-powerful Atlas 5 rocket can launch over 7,700 pounds of provisions inside a Cygnus, and the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday night that NASA has pushed Orbital ATK to buy another Atlas 5 for its greater lift capacity and reliability record.

Sources told Spaceflight Now that the Atlas 5 would launch the OA-7 mission in March and that Orbital ATK was working with Kennedy Space Center to book facility time to process the Cygnus.

It was not immediately clear if NASA or Orbital ATK would pay for the extra costs associated with the Atlas 5 rocket.

Orbital ATK is under contract to deliver over 63,000 pounds of supplies to the space station via 10 missions through 2018. A follow-on contract has awarded a minimum of six missions through 2024.

“Orbital ATK’s remaining missions to be conducted in 2017 and 2018 under the CRS-1 contract will launch aboard the company’s Antares rockets from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia,” the company statement says.

Atlas 5 was the gap-filler during Orbital ATK’s Antares problem period, prompting the firm to buy one, then two ULA rockets to fulfill its obligations to the space station program.

Flown 65 times since 2002, the Atlas 5 has performed 25 flights dedicated to the Defense Department, 14 commercial missions, 13 for the National Reconnaissance Office and 13 for NASA.

The new Cygnus launch will be accommodated by ULA’s plan to bolster its vehicle production and create more launch opportunities on the manifest. A spring launch slot was available for Orbital ATK to reserve on short notice.

http://spaceflightnow.com

Russian space station resupply mission set for liftoff

A Soyuz rocket is on track for launch Thursday with a Progress cargo freighter carrying more than 5,300 pounds of fuel, water, and supplies for the International Space Station’s six-person crew.

The Progress MS-02 spacecraft is aiming for liftoff at 1623:58 GMT (12:23:58 p.m. EDT) Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, setting off on a two-day pursuit of the massive orbiting research complex.

The cargo capsule is heading for an automated linkup with the space station’s Zvezda service module at around 1801 GMT (2:01 p.m. EDT) Saturday.

The mission is the 63rd Progress cargo craft to launch toward the International Space Station, and it will be the second supply ship to arrive at the outpost in a week after an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft delivered a load of experiments and provisions March 26.

Russian ground crews packed 5,346 pounds (2,425 kilograms) of fuel, water, air and supplies into the Progress MS-02 spaceship for the journey to the space station, according to a manifest posted online by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

Photo credit: Roscosmos

The cargo craft’s pressurized section carries 3,126 pounds (1,418 kilograms) of equipment. That includes 762 pounds (346 kilograms) of sanitary supplies and waste containers, 729 pounds (331 kilograms) of food rations, and packages of towels, napkins, clothing, water filters, air filters, batteries, carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, medical gear, maintenance tools, scientific experiments, and a nanosatellite that will be deployed by hand on a future Russian spacewalk.

The Progress supply freighter will also refuel the space station’s Zvezda propulsion and service module with 1,190 pounds (540 kilograms) of propellants. The rocket fuel would be used to help steer the space station out of the way of space junk and reboost its orbit.

Tanks inside the cargo capsule will also take 926 pounds (420 kilograms) of fresh water and 103 pounds (47 kilograms) of oxygen and air to the space station.

A previous Progress supply ship departed the space station Wednesday to clear the Zvezda module’s aft port for the arrival of the fresh cargo craft Saturday. The Progress M-29M spaceship is loaded with trash and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere April 8 for a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific Ocean.

The Progress MS-02 vehicle will remain docked to the space station until October.

The complex is scheduled to receive its third cargo delivery in 15 days on April 10, when SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is due to arrive. SpaceX commercial supply ship is currently set to launch from Cape Canaveral on April 8 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

http://spaceflightnow.com

Video,Launch of European Mars Mission ExoMars on a Russian Proton-M

http://www.tvroscosmos.ru

Video ,United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket carrying the NROL-45

(Launch webcast begins at 3:19 a.m. local (6:19 a.m. EST; 1119 GMT)

Mission Status Center

Live coverage of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket carrying the NROL-45 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

0409 GMT (8:09 p.m. local)The 32-story-tall mobile service tower is being retracted from the Delta 4 rocket at Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 6 pad for today's flight that will place a surveillance satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

The wheeled structure, a modified piece of hardware from the pad's history as a manned launch site, is moving along rail tracks to its retracted position east of the rocket.

The 13-million-pound gantry shielded the Delta from the elements during the stay on the pad since July, provided workers 360-degree access to the various areas on the vehicle and was instrumental in attaching the strap-on solid motors and the payload during the launch campaign.

Crews will spend the next couple of hours securing the complex for launch before leaving the danger area around the pad. All workers must be clear of the area for the start of hazardous operations in the countdown, which include fueling the vehicle later tonight.

Liftoff remains scheduled for 3:39 a.m. local. The actual length of the day's available launch window to get the rocket airborne today is not disclosed to the public.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016 Ready to support the national security needs of the country, a Delta 4 rocket is poised for liftoff early Wednesday from California to deliver a classified payload into space.

Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base of the United Launch Alliance rocket is planned for 3:39 a.m. local (6:39 a.m. EST; 1139 GMT).

"Things are looking really great. I was down at the pad this morning, giving the rocket one last look. The weather looks great, we had a beautiful weekend, the weather is great today and the forecast for (Wednesday) is looking really well," Lt. Col. Eric Zarybnisky, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander, said in a telephone interview from Vandenberg on Monday.

"Our final closeout activities are going on today and tomorrow, kind of the normal flow as we pull some of those remove-before-flight pins and items. We've already moved the mobile assembly shelter out of the way. That was done late last week," he added.

This will be the 31st Delta 4 rocket launch since debuting in 2002 and the sixth to fly from Vandenberg.

It's hard to say it is just another Delta. Every rocket is unique. There's a lot of intricacies built in. Each of the missions have their own unique flavor. And there's a lot of folks who come together to make the mission happen. It is hard to say it is just another rocket, because it is rocket science at the end of the day," Zarybnisky said.

The two-stage rocket was rolled from the Horizontal Integration Facility to the pad in July to be hydraulically raised into the vertical position atop the launch table.

A full countdown dress rehearsal and fueling exercise occurred in early November.

The payload, already encapsulated in the rocket's 5-meter nose cone, was lifted from the payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex 6 and transported the short distance to the rocket for mating in mid-January.

Countdown activities will get underway Tuesday evening with retraction of the mobile service gantry and the start of fueling operations that will continue into the early morning of Wednesday.

"This launch will deliver a vital capability to our warfighters and our nation," said Zarybnisky, who will serve as the Air Force launch director.

"There really is no day without space. Launch is the gateway to that high ground. We stress that to our folks every day that hey, this isn’t just another launch. Each one of them is drastically important."

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016 PREVIEW: Beginning the National Reconnaissance Office's campaign of four launches in 2016 using boosters big and small to deploy a varied collection of new intelligence satellites, a Delta 4 rocket stands ready for liftoff before sun-up Wednesday from California.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2016 PREVIEW: It was 1986 and the U.S. Air Force was on the cusp of something unprecedented in human spaceflight -- launching a space shuttle crew from California and paving the way for people to fly true polar missions.

http://spaceflightnow.com

Orion Loaded into Work Stand at Kennedy

Engineers loaded the Orion pressure vessel, or underlying structure of the crew module, into a work stand in the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 2. The pressure vessel’s seven large pieces were welded together at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans between September 2015 and January 2016. It will fly thousands of miles beyond the moon on Exploration Mission-1.

Orion is lowered onto a work stand in the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The pressure vessel provides a sealed environment to support astronauts and is key for future human-rated crew modules. The Orion team will test the pressure vessel to make sure it’s structurally sound and then begin outfitting it with the spacecraft’s other systems and subsystems. Over the next 18 months, more than 100,000 components will arrive to Kennedy for integration into Orion. 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/orion

ARIANE FLIGHT VA228, Intelsat 29e

http://arianespace.tv