Crew Exploration Vehicle

The Orion CEV became part of NASA's Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the Moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the Solar System.

After Constellation was cancelled, it was envisioned for emergency evacuation of the International Space Station, then retained for revived Solar System exploration plans.

NASA had planned to have a suborbital or an Earth orbit fly-off called Flight Application of Spacecraft Technologies (FAST) between two teams' CEV designs before September 1, 2008.

[3] On June 13, 2005, NASA announced the selection of two consortia, Lockheed Martin Corp. and the team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Boeing Co. for further CEV development work.

[8] According to an Aerospace Daily & Defense Report summary of a NASA document explaining the rationale for the contract award, the Lockheed Martin proposal won on the basis of a superior technical approach, lower and more realistic cost estimates, and exceptional performance on Phase I of the CEV program.

[10] Lockheed's proposed craft was a small Space Shuttle shaped lifting body design big enough for six astronauts and their equipment.

The Lockheed Martin CEV design included several modules in the LEO (low Earth orbit) and crewed lunar versions of the spacecraft, plus an abort system.

The abort system was an escape tower like that used in the Mercury, Apollo, Soyuz, and Shenzhou craft (Gemini, along with the Space Shuttles Enterprise and Columbia [until STS-4] used ejection seats).

According to the publication Aviation Week and Space Technology, the RM would have an outer heat shield of reinforced carbon-carbon and a redundant layer of felt reusable surface insulation underneath in case of RCC failure.

It would also provide extra power and communications capabilities, and include a docking port for the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM).

However, it is instructive to note that most publicly released Boeing designs for the canceled Orbital Space Plane (OSP) resembled the Apollo capsule.

such that NASA will issue a "Call for Improvements" (CFI) after the release of the ESAS for Lockheed Martin and Boeing to submit Phase II proposals.

[14] After reviewing the Augustine Report, and following congressional testimony, the Obama administration decided to exclude Constellation from the 2011 United States federal budget.

[19] The Artemis program is an ongoing crewed spaceflight program carried out predominately by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA), JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region by 2025.

Once at the Gateway, the crew will embark on the Human Landing System (HLS) to the lunar surface for excursions eventually lasting up to 6 weeks.

CEV initial concept in Lockheed Martin design, showing delta-wing crew module ( at right ), with a mission module and propulsion stage (with rocket engines) for interplanetary flight.
Orion , as a later design, after the initial plans for the Crew Exploration Vehicle led to development of the Orion.
NASA Constellation officials announcing the selected Orion contractor Aug. 31, 2006, at NASA Headquarters
Completed Orion MPCV for Artemis 1 (November 2019)
Artist concept of Orion MPCV approaching the Lunar Gateway