Miami ( CNN ) -- NASA plans a return to yesteryear by developing a space capsule that will carry humans into deep space , it announced Tuesday . `` We are committed to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and look forward to developing the next generation of systems to take us there , '' NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said . The new spacecraft , to be built by Lockheed Martin , will be known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle , or MPCV . It will carry four astronauts and be based on designs originally planned for NASA 's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle , whose development was canceled by President Barack Obama . NASA says astronauts would not fly onboard until at least 2016 . NASA has not flown astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo program , in the 1970s . `` We hope to have test flights in this decade . We 're not sure when but certainly as early as possible , '' said Douglas Cooke , NASA 's associate administrator for exploration systems mission . Like the Apollo spacecraft , which landed 12 men on the moon , the MPCV will splash down in the Pacific Ocean upon return to Earth . However , the new craft will be the 21st-century version : Much larger and 10 times safer to launch and land than the space shuttle , NASA says . `` We would have an abort system , all the way from sitting on the pad , to flying up , up and away . The space shuttle has never had that capability , '' Cooke said . This new spacecraft is NASA 's first step forward in its next great leap , as the U.S. space shuttle program heads into retirement . Officials say this vehicle will be able to go to the moon or do a deep space mission to Mars . Any deep space mission would be accompanied by a larger compartment for the crew , Cooke said . The MPCV is currently at Lockheed Martin 's facility in Denver , undergoing testing . NASA is hoping to start flying as soon as possible to close the gap in the U.S. manned space program . With the retirement of the space shuttle , expected in July , the U.S. will have to pay the Russian space agency to take astronauts back and forth from the station until the MPCV is ready . NASA is also hoping that private , commercial companies will soon be able to fly astronauts to the space station in newly developed vehicles . The original Orion spacecraft was part of NASA 's Constellation program to take man back to the moon , and later , to Mars . That program was canceled . In 2010 , it was resurrected , and downsized to be used as a `` lifeboat , '' in the event of an emergency on the space station . Five billion dollars have already been spent on Orion -- another reason to keep the design . NASA has not yet developed a rocket powerful enough to propel this spacecraft out of Earth 's atmosphere . `` As we aggressively continue our work on a heavy-lift-launch vehicle , we are moving forward with an existing contract to keep development of our new crew vehicle on track , '' Bolden said . Obama has committed $ 3 billion for NASA to develop the heavy-lift-launch vehicle .
New craft wo n't be ready until 2016 at earliest . It could go to moon or Mars . Separate crew compartment needed to go farther . Capsule intended to fill gap created by end to shuttle program .