The US still has a space plane and it's operational:
http://www.space.com/23834-photos-x-...y-mission.html
It's not designed for human occupation but it is doing something up there, very secretly.
Sadly the Orion doesn't even have a mission to be assigned to at this point. The lasso the asteroid idea and tow it to the Moon, is imho not going to get much traction with the Republican congress - who are more likely to want more militarisation of the program for their $. Orion may never get a mission that uses its capabilities - unless the Chinese build a base on the Moon, which is not that far out of reach for them. The US will have to respond to that, of they will feel the need.