It was a vehicle ... just not the type boat retailer MarineMax Houston typically shrink wraps for transportation.

NASA's Orion spacecraft could one day carry astronauts to the moon and Mars. But first, an Orion test module needed to be transported from Texas to Ohio for an acoustic test. And it'd be a shame if roadside debris had nicked it – or worse, water got inside – before April when it's slated to launch at more than 1,000 miles an hour to an altitude of 31,000 feet.

So NASA called MarineMax Houston, located just four miles down the street from Johnson Space Center on NASA Parkway, for some shrink wrap assistance.

Orion Series: NASA's Johnson Space Center preps Orion module — for failure

"It was cool and unexpected," said Billy Foulkes, MarineMax Houston service adviser.

He wouldn't go as far as calling shrink wrap an art, but it does take some skill. And practice.

Before tackling the space craft, Jose Vasquez, the company's experienced technician, had his team try out their wrapping techniques on boxes and miscellaneous boat parts around the MarineMax Houston office. When the time came for the real thing, it required about eight hours and three rolls of shrink wrap, each measuring 25 feet wide by 75 feet long.

The shrink wrappers first created a bonnet-like cap to cover the top of the Orion module to protect it from exposure. Then, a cherry-picker was used to lift pre-cut shrink wrap up and over the Orion, down the other side and back around the bottom. MarineMax employees repeated the proceduer, going in the opposite direction to make an "X" shape.

They wrapped both sides of the "X" again to create two layers of shrink wrap, securing it with tape and taking extra precautions to ensure adhesive did not get on the spacecraft. Finally, a heat gun caused the material to shrink and fit the spacecraft's form.

NASA engineers watched the entire process, particulalry concerned about the amount of heat applied, but dealing with such worries is not uncommon for Foulkes.

"They were very meticulous," he said, "which I could say not all my boat customers are. But a lot of them are very meticulous."

NASA: Humans will touch the moon again by the late 2020s

For Sheila Pogue, who procured materials for the job and helped coordinate the scheduling, it was an especially notable experience because her grandfather was an astronaut. William Pogue piloted Skylab 4, the third and final time humans visited America's Skylab space station, and spent 84 days in space.

She had visited the Space Center Houston museum countless times as a child and entered the Johnson Space Center offices with her mom, who worked there in information technology, on bring your kid to work days. But this time was different.

"Being onsite as a contractor, it felt different than paying for your ticket and riding the tram and listening to your tour guide," she said.

Before heading to the Johnson Space Center to help wrap the Orion module, she took a picture of herself wearing her grandfather's flight jacket to show the NASA employees she would meet. And they loved her photo.

"While I was fangirling over them," Pogue said, "they were like, 'That's so cool.'"

After being wrapped in August (MarineMax disclosed its shrink wrapping adventure this week), the Orion test crew module was sent via truck to the Plum Brook Station testing facility with NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio.

At HoustonChronicle.com: NASA preps to put structural integrity of Orion module to the test in Ohio before return to Houston

Here it underwent testing in a specialized acoustic chamber, with noises louder than gunshots, fireworks or a jet plane taking off, to test its structural soundness. It passed these tests and returned to Johnson Space Center on Sept. 10, Jon Olansen, NASA project manager for Orion's Ascent Abort-2 test, said in an email.

The April 2019 Ascent Abort-2 flight test in Cape Canaveral, Fla., is the final destination for this simplified module. It will be used to test Orion spacecraft's abort system, which is designed to propel crew members away from the rocket should an incident occur during launch.

And ultimately, after the test, it will lay to rest in the ocean – a more familiar terrain for the MarineMax Houston team.