Lockheed Martin Engineers at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, perform the first weld on the Orion pressure vessel for Exploration Mission 1. This is the third pressure Orion pressure vessel built. Engineers continue to refine the design reducing the number of welds from 33 on the first pressure vessel to 7 on the current one, saving 700 pounds of mass.

Photo: NASA / Radislav Sinyak