After the completion of construction of an Orion crew module and crew module adapter full-scale mockup at the Lockheed Martin Littleton, Colorado facility, it was transferred to the Orion Test Lab (OTL) on May 13, 2015. Engineers will now configure it with the exact harnessing, electrical power, sensors, avionics and flight software required to support Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).

The mockup will then be brought into use to connect to hardware emulations of the full EM-1 stack, along with ground support equipment. The EM-1 stack comprises Orion crew module, European Service Module, second stage booster, and the Space Launch System.

After establishing its connection, the team will simulate and test every aspect of the EM-1 mission from launch to splash down.

The motive behind transferring this Orion crew module and adapter full-scale mockup to the Orion Test Lab (OTL) is to use it to prepare Orion for its second flight into the black on Exploration Mission 1.

Going by the current schedule, EM-1 will take place in November of 2018. It will mark the first flight of NASA's new super heavy-lift booster, the Space Launch System or "SLS".

The flight will not certainly be the first for Orion, given the spacecraft was launched atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy booster in December of 2014.

"Over the next day, teams in the lab will prepare the mockup for placement onto permanent support structures. We're aiming to have the mockup ready for proof load testing by the end of the month. Once that's complete we can install access platforms and start mounting various EM-1 components onto the mockup", Allison Rakes, a spokesperson with Lockheed Martin told SpaceFlight Insider. SLS and Orion are expected to provide significant help in deep space exploration efforts.