American space agency NASA says engineers working on the Orion capsule have welded together the first two segments of the capsule. According to NASA, this is a step closer to sending manned spacecraft on a deep space journey to Mars.

This crucial task was accomplished on Saturday, at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, said agency.

"Every day, teams around the country are moving at full speed to get ready for the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), when we'll flight test Orion and SLS together in the providing ground of space, far away from the safety of Earth", said Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The welding process of Orion has been refined since the first test version of the capsule's main structure was flight tested in Exploration Flight Test-1 in December 2014. The Orion which is being built for Exploration Mission-1 will employ seven primary welds, saving weight.

The agency said before the welding is done, the segments had to be thoroughly cleaned and coated with a protective chemical. Strain gauges were also installed in both the segments to monitor the integrity of the metal during assembly.

The primary structure of the Orion's crew module is made of seven large aluminum pieces that must be welded together in detailed fashion. The first weld connects the tunnel to the forward bulkhead, which is at the top of the spacecraft. It also contained some of Orion's critical systems like the parachutes that deploy during reentry.