November 5, 2010 – Aerojet company in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and NASA, successfully completed acceptance testing on the second R-4D development engine.

The R-4D is the Aerojet engine that will be used on NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle for the service module auxiliary propulsion. Eight R-4D engines, arranged in four pods of two each, will provide thrust for critical Orion maneuvers. 

The R-4D acceptance testing was a critical milestone in the Orion Service Module Auxiliary Propulsion Program. Completion of this testing demonstrates incremental progress and opens the way for the next phase of development testing. 

Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of four astronauts. The spacecraft was originally designed to be launched by the Ares I launch vehicle, for the Constellation Program. As of 11 October 2010, with the canceling of the Constellation Program the Orion vehicle is now planned to be launched onto top of a Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Vehicle. 

Orion would launch from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, the same launch complex used by the Space Shuttle and the Saturn V. While shuttle operations continued from launch pad 39A, 39B was readied for Ares launches. The first crewed Orion flight is anticipated in 2016. Subsequent flights would visit the International Space Station. If commercial orbital transportation services are unavailable, Orion would handle logistic flights to the station. After that, Orion may become a key component of human missions beyond low earth orbit which may included missions to lagrange points, Near-Earth objects, the Moon and Mars. 

The federal government proposed cancellation of the Constellation program in February 2010 and was signed into law October 11. The bill is basically a retooling of the Constellation Program, moving the objective away from a moon base and more towards a NEO mission and an eventual Mars landing.