NASA astronaut Rex Walheim excited about Orion test flight

A countdown dress rehearsal and rocket fueling exercise was completed at Cape Canaveral for next month’s launch of NASA’s Orion crew module atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy booster.

NASA, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance officials hold the L-2 day countdown status briefing following the launch readiness review on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Running a day late, a United Launch Alliance heavy-lift Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral early Sunday, boosting NASA’s $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe into space on a daring seven-year mission to “touch the sun” with repeated trips through the star’s blazing outer atmosphere.