Assuming all goes well, the next step will be to test the system in space.

ECONOMIST: Solar power from space

Of the following four adjectives that might plausibly be applied to the snow leopard, the animal appropriated by Apple for the name of its latest operating system, which do you think test well with focus groups?

FORBES: Apple: Think cuddly.

The flight, perhaps climbing to around 5, 000 miles above the earth, is intended to test the capsule's emergency launch-abort system, as well other systems, and Orion's protection against damage from micro-meteorites.

WSJ: Lockheed Martin Sees Space Capsule Test Flight in 2013