[ABSTRACT] In late 2006, NASA's Constellation Program conducted a study to examine the feasibility of sending the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV; also known as the Orion spacecraft) to a near-Earth object (NEO). One of the significant advantages of this type of mission is that it strengthens and validates the foundational infrastructure for the United States Space Exploration Policy and Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in the run up to the lunar sorties and lunar outpost build up at the end of the next decade (~2020). Sending a human expedition to an NEO demonstrates the broad utility of the Constellation Program's Orion CEV capsule and Ares launch systems. Such a mission would be the first human expedition to an interplanetary beyond the Earth-Moon system. Today's basic paradigm of how to conduct mission operations must also change. At their closest approach to Earth, NEOs (particularly PHAs -potentially hazardous asteroids) are 7 to 10 light-seconds away. The crew must be very knowledgeable and systems savvy with the vehicle, as the locus of operational decision-making will be upon the crew. Such a mission to a NEO provides Mars-forward operational concepts (for crew and mission control) as well as regaining crucial operational experience conducting human exploration missions beyond the Earth-Moon system. Nomenclature a = semi-major axis AU = astronomical unit; 149.598 x 10 6 km CEV = Crew Exploration Vehicle (also known as the Orion spacecraft) Cx = abbreviation for Constellation (CxP -Constellation Program) Δv = delta v; change in velocity; acceleration integrated over time e = orbital eccentricity EELV = Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (e.g., Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Heavy) ESAS = Exploration Systems Architecture Study i = orbital inclination LSAM = Lunar Surface Access Module; recently named Altair. NEO = near-Earth object PHO = potentially hazardous object (i.e., coming to within 0.05 AU of the Earth) + AIAA Member

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