NASA officials have set a requirements baseline for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, bringing the next U.S. spacecraft a step closer to construction. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Orion Project scientists completed the system requirements review in cooperation with the project’s prime contractor, the Lockheed Martin Corp.NASA said the review marks the first major milestone in the Orion engineering process and provides the foundation for design, development, construction and safe operation of the spacecraft that will carry explorers into Earth orbit, to the moon and eventually to Mars.

The detailed requirements established in the review will serve as the basis for design analysis work and systems testing.