The purpose of the SLS was to deliver a crew module and its service module first to the Moon and then to Mars and perhaps an asteroid. The crew exploration vehicle (CEV) that had been under design and development for Project Constellation, called Orion, was chosen by NASA for the new human spaceflight program. The CEV would need a Service Module. NASA partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to select a contractor to design and develop a new SM to support the CEV. The ESA selected EADS Astrium, a division of Airbus Defense and Space based in Germany to design, develop, and manufacture the SM and deliver it to Kennedy Space Center.