The dinosaur fossil, together with other souvenirs and mementos, will leave Earth this coming December 4

Dec 2, 2014 16:35 GMT  ·  By
The Orion spacecraft will be accompanied by several souvenirs and mementos on its maiden voyage
5 photos
   The Orion spacecraft will be accompanied by several souvenirs and mementos on its maiden voyage

Towards the end of November, NASA announced that, come December 4, it would launch it Orion spacecraft, i.e. the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, on its maiden voyage.

Orion is scheduled to launch from the Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 7:05 a.m. EST. It will be sent on its way by a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.

The spacecraft is expected to reach an altitude of 3,600 miles (some 5,800 kilometers) and circle our planet twice. This mission is expected to take about 4.5 hours to complete.

What's interesting is that, by the looks of it, NASA's Orion spacecraft will not embark on this journey alone. On the contrary, Space tells us that it will carry several souvenirs and mementos.

A dinosaur fossil, a Star Trek action figure, a Muppet, an Iron Man coin, and part of an Apollo lunar spacesuit are among the items NASA will put inside its Orion spacecraft before liftoff.

It's still unclear what species the dinosaur fossil belongs to, but it's safe to assume that, when it died, the poor ancient beast had no idea that its remains would end up traveling all the way to space and back.

As mentioned, Orion's maiden voyage is getting this much attention because, should things go according to plan, such a spacecraft will one day carry people to Mars.

The Orion spacecraft will launch this December 4 (5 Images)

The Orion spacecraft will be accompanied by several souvenirs and mementos on its maiden voyage
The launch is scheduled to take place this December 4The Orion spacecraft will orbit the Earth twice
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