The European Space Agency will supply the service module that will power an initial unmanned test flight of NASA's Orion deep space exploration capsule in 2017 and provide components for a second, manned mission in 2021 under an agreement discussed Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center.

The service module, which will provide propulsion, electrical power, thermal control and life support system components and supplies, will be based on the design of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned supply ship that has completed three flights to the International Space Station.

The solar-powered service module will be located just behind the Orion crew capsule, between the spacecraft heat shield and the launch vehicle. NASA will supply the critical load-bearing interfaces and will contribute space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engines for the propulsion system.

"We put them in the critical path," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's director of spaceflight operations at agency headquarters. "We probably wouldn't have done that without the experience we've had in space station."

Depending on how the cooperative venture goes from a technical perspective -- and assuming continued political support and funding -- NASA and ESA could agree to additional joint flights or pursue modified objectives.

But in the near term, officials say, the agreement will help both parties transition from work in low-Earth orbit to deep space operations ranging from flights back to the moon, to nearby asteroids and, eventually, to Mars.

"To me, the essential part of this is not whether we've accelerated something or not, it's actually initiating international partnership beyond low-Earth orbit, that's really the key," said Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager.

Gerstenmaier agreed, saying the agreement "allows us to work smarter within the contracts we have to make sure we're going to get to those dates of 2017 and 2021 with more robustness."

"We shouldn't try to go look at what ESA's contributing and then try to subtract that out of our budget. We're actually getting a better, more robust design by cooperating together."

Thomas Reiter, a veteran ESA astronaut who serves as that agency's director of human spaceflight and operations, declined to provide funding details other than to say the overall cost to ESA is expected to be in the range of $600 million ($450 million euros).

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ESA module to power NASA's Orion deep space capsule