Orion capsule completed ahead of its first test flight in December Three Delta IV boosters collectively generate 1.96 million pounds of thrust Orion capsule will undergo first test flight in December Comes as Nasa bosses reveal private contracts for shuttle replacement so they can concentrate on the project Blastoff for the spacecraft which could one day take humans to Mars is set for the final countdown as Nasa revealed the capsule has been completed. It will blast the experimental capsule in orbit using a huge Delta IV Heavy Rocket already waiting on the launchpad - although the rockets are then expected to be replaced by Nasa's even bigger Space Launch system. The assembled Orion crew module, service module, launch abort system and adapter will reside in Kennedy's Launch Abort System Facility until its scheduled rollout to the launch pad, set for Nov. 10. NASA's Orion spacecraft was completed Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014 in the Launch Abort System Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will reside there until Nov. 10, when it will be rolled out to Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of its Dec. 4 test flight. The three common booster cores are 134 feet in length and 17 feet in diameter. Each has an RS-68 engine that uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant producing 656,000 pounds of thrust. All totaled, the three Delta IV boosters collectively generate 1.96 million pounds of thrust. The second stage of the Delta IV rocket is 45 feet in length and 17 feet in diameter. It uses one RL10-B-2 engine, also burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant creating 25,000 pounds of thrust. At the launch pad, it will be lifted onto the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it into space for its uncrewed flight test. 'This is just the first of what will be a long line of exploration missions beyond low earth orbit, and in a few years we will be sending our astronauts to destinations humans have never experienced,' said Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development 'It's thrilling to be a part of the journey now, at the beginning.' 'We've been working toward this launch for months, and we're in the final stretch,' said Kennedy Director Bob Cabana. Last month the Delta IV Heavy rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, made its move to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket's three Common Booster Cores were tested, processed and attached to each other to form the first stage that will connect to Orion's service module. It then was raised Wednesday from the horizontal position into its vertical launch configuration. Orion is almost complete and the rocket that will send it into space is on the launch pad. 'We're 64 days away from taking the next step in deep space exploration.' Orion was moved Sunday out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as its launch abort system was fitted. This system is designed to protect astronauts if a problem arises during launch by pulling the spacecraft away from the failing rocket. During the December, uncrewed flight, the jettison motor, which separates the launch abort system from the crew module in both normal operations and emergency, will be tested. For Orion's dry run, the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built capsule will have hunks of aluminum in place of seats for ballast, and simulators instead of actual cockpit displays. Once the launch abort system is stacked on the completed crew and service modules, and the three systems are tested together, the Orion spacecraft will be considered complete. It then will wait inside the launch abort system facility until mid-November, when the Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft. The Delta IV Heavy rocket (left), built by United Launch Alliance, made its move Tuesday night, to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The three primary core elements of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket have now been put together, forming the first stage of the launch vehicle that will send Orion far from Earth to allow NASA to evaluate the spacecraft's performance in space. The three Delta IV Common Booster Cores were attached in ULA's Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF), at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The HIF building is located at Space Launch Complex 37 where the mission will lift off. During its Dec. 4 test flight, the unmanned capsule will shoot more than 3,600 miles into space. It will then take two big laps around Earth before re-entering the atmosphere at 20,000 mph and parachuting into the Pacific off the San Diego coast. During the two-orbit, four-hour mission, engineers will evaluate the systems critical to crew safety, the launch abort system, the heat shield and the parachute system. The data gathered during the mission will influence design decisions and validate existing computer models. The flight also will reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. The capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds approaching 20,000 mph, generating temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The first booster was attached to the center rocket in June with the second one was attached in early August. 'The day-to-day processing is performed by ULA,' said Merri Anne Stowe of Nasa's Fleet Systems Integration Branch of the Launch Services Program (LSP). 'Nasa's role is to keep a watchful eye on everything and be there to help if any issues come up.' Stowe explained that during major testing experts from Nasa's Launch Services Program monitor the work on consoles in Hanger AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Hangar AE is home to the Kennedy Space Center's upgraded Launch Vehicle Data Center. The facility allows engineers to monitor voice, data, telemetry and video systems that support expendable launch vehicle missions. The huge Delta IV Heavy rocket w earlier this week put together for the first time at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida ahead of a first test flight of the Orion capsule in December, a mission known as Exploration Flight Test-1. NASA's Florida spaceport is also where Orion was built and is being processed. The Delta IV rocket stages were assembled at the ULA plant in Decatur, Alabama, about 20 miles west of Huntsville. After completion, the rocket components were shipped down the Tennessee River and Tombigbee Waterway, a canal, to the Gulf of Mexico. From there they traveled to Cape Canaveral, arriving on May 6. The elements of the rocket's first stage were then transported to the HIF for preflight processing. 'After the three core stages went through their initial inspections and processing, the struts were attached, connecting the booster stages with the center core,' Stowe said. A Delta IV rocket will do the heavy lifting. It will eventually be launced by Nasa's new Space Launch System 'megarocket'. For its first flight test, SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. In its most powerful configuration, SLS will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons), which will enable missions even farther into our solar system, including such destinations as an asteroid and Mars. When asked by a reporter, Cabana said he wishes Orion's flight pace was quicker. 'But it is what it is,' he said. 'Given the budget that we have, I think we've got the best program that you could imagine.' Orion has its roots in the post-Columbia shuttle era; it originated a decade ago as a crew exploration vehicle to get astronauts beyond low Earth orbit and managed to survive the cancellation of the Constellation moon project.