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\h        NARRATOR: Welcome to Kennedy NOW! A look at the progress of change at America's premiere spaceport!

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\h        NASA's partners in the agency's Commercial Crew Program continue development of their

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\h        spacecraft to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit in the next few years.

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\h        May saw Sierra Nevada Corporation deliver an engineering test prototype of

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\h        its winged Dream Chaser to the Dryden Flight Research Center in California.

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\h        Later this year, the flight vehicle will be dropped from a helicopter before

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\h        gliding under its own control to a landing on the Mojave runways.

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\h        Here, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer practices just such a landing

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\h        in a flight simulator at the Langley Research Center.

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\h        The data from this “flight” will help engineers hone Dream Chaser's design.

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\h        As for beyond low-Earth orbit, NASA's new Orion capsule that'll take the next

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\h        generation of explorers into deep space has completed a series

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\h        of tests to see how it handles the rigors of launch.

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\h        Under development by Lockheed Martin, the vehicle will next be fitted

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\h        with thrusters it'll use to maneuver in space.

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\h        Orion is scheduled for its first mission next year, the uncrewed Exploration Flight

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\h        Test-1 to evaluate the spacecraft's systems and heat shield.

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\h        Missions to exotic destinations was the theme of this year's robotics mining competition at Kennedy.

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\h        Designers were challenged to build automated machinery that could

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\h        excavate material similar to that found on other planetary bodies,