Capable of supporting a crew of four beyond low Earth orbit, Orion can last up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked.

[9][10][11] Orion uses the same basic configuration as the Apollo command and service module (CSM) that first took astronauts to the Moon, but with an increased diameter, updated thermal protection system, and other more modern technologies.

It is designed to support long-duration deep space missions with up to 21 days of active crew time plus 6 months' quiescent spacecraft life.

[1] After extensive study, NASA selected the Avcoat ablator system to provide heat protection encountered during reentry for the Orion crew module.

[22] It incorporates an "autodock" feature, like those of Progress, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, and Dragon 2, with provision for the flight crew to take over in an emergency.

In addition, all of Orion's component parts have been designed to be as modular as possible, so that between the craft's first test flight in 2014 and its projected Mars voyage in the 2030s, the spacecraft can be upgraded as new technologies become available.

[26] In May 2011, the ESA director general announced a possible collaboration with NASA to work on a successor to the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

[27] On June 21, 2012, Airbus Defence and Space announced that they had been awarded two separate studies, each worth €6.5 million, to evaluate the possibilities of using technology and experience gained from ATV and Columbus related work for future missions.

As of September 2008, Aerojet has, along with team members Orbital Sciences, Lockheed Martin and NASA, successfully demonstrated two full-scale test firings of the jettison motor.

[41] With the announcement in 2019 of the intent to procure a Human Landing System for Artemis missions, NASA provided Orion mass and propulsion capability values.

[43] Its design is based on the Crew Exploration Vehicle from the canceled Constellation program,[44] which had been a 2006 NASA contract award to Lockheed Martin.

[32][46][31][35] The CM's first uncrewed test flight (EFT-1) was launched without the EUS atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket on December 5, 2014, and lasted 4 hours and 24 minutes before landing at its target in the Pacific Ocean.

[99] The service module was originally planned to use liquid methane (LCH4) as its fuel, but switched to hypergolic propellants due to the infancy of oxygen/methane-powered rocket technologies and the goal of launching the Orion CEV by 2012.

NASA performed environmental testing of Orion from 2007 to 2011 at the Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

The LAS motor could provide 500,000 lbf (2,200 kN) of thrust in case an emergency situation should arise on the launch pad or during the first 300,000 feet (91 km) of the rocket's climb to orbit.

[105] On May 10, 2010, NASA successfully executed the LES PAD-Abort-1 test at White Sands, launching a boilerplate (mock-up) Orion capsule to an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet (1,800 m).

The evaluation process supported NASA's design of landing recovery operations including equipment, ship and crew needs.

Full sea testing ran April 6–30, 2009, at various locations off the coast of NASA's Kennedy Space Center with media coverage.

[107] On May 7, 2009, the Obama administration enlisted the Augustine Commission to perform a full independent review of the ongoing NASA space exploration program.

[4] On December 5, 2014, a developmental Orion spacecraft was successfully launched into space and retrieved at sea after splashdown on the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1).

[112][113] Before EFT-1 in December 2014, several preparatory vehicle recovery tests were performed, which continued the "crawl, walk, run" approach established by PORT.

Also using an LPD 17 class ship, the URT was performed in more realistic sea conditions off the coast of California in early 2014 to prepare the US Navy / NASA team for recovering the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) Orion CM.

[citation needed] Orion Lite is an unofficial name used in the media for a lightweight crew capsule proposed by Bigelow Aerospace in collaboration with Lockheed Martin.

Additionally, the current proposal calls for a mid-air retrieval, wherein another aircraft captures the descending Orion Lite module.

[124] A proposal curated by William H. Gerstenmaier before his 10 July 2019 reassignment[127] suggests four launches of the crewed Orion spacecraft and logistical modules aboard the SLS Block 1B to the Gateway.

[128][129] The crewed Artemis 4 through 7 would launch yearly,[130] testing in situ resource utilization and nuclear power on the lunar surface with a partially reusable lander.

[137] The habitat module will provide additional space and supplies, as well as facilitate spacecraft maintenance, mission communications, exercise, training, and personal recreation.