diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e96ed327df3a5..932585ca8bae9 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ opt dist-host-only 0 "only install bins for the host architecture"
 opt inject-std-version 1 "inject the current compiler version of libstd into programs"
 opt llvm-version-check 1 "check if the LLVM version is supported, build anyway"
 opt rustbuild 0 "use the rust and cargo based build system"
-opt orbit 0 "get MIR where it belongs - everywhere; most importantly, in orbit"
+opt orbit 1 "get MIR where it belongs - everywhere; most importantly, in orbit"
 opt codegen-tests 1 "run the src/test/codegen tests"
 opt option-checking 1 "complain about unrecognized options in this configure script"
 
diff --git a/src/librustc/session/config.rs b/src/librustc/session/config.rs
index b8dd750d3f1c2..f3ef38bc72a4c 100644
--- a/src/librustc/session/config.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/session/config.rs
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ options! {DebuggingOptions, DebuggingSetter, basic_debugging_options,
           "set the MIR optimization level (0-3)"),
     dump_mir: Option<String> = (None, parse_opt_string,
           "dump MIR state at various points in translation"),
-    orbit: bool = (false, parse_bool,
+    orbit: bool = (true, parse_bool,
           "get MIR where it belongs - everywhere; most importantly, in orbit"),
 }