Success for Orion – Man Reaches for Mars

Orion has completed a successful launch and recovery today, setting the stage for man’s eventual journey to Mars.

The American spaceship designed to one day fly astronauts to Mars made a near-bullseye splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, wrapping up a flawless, unmanned debut test flight around Earth.

The Orion capsule blasted off aboard a Delta 4 Heavy rocket, the biggest in the U.S. fleet, just after dawn from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Kennedy, Florida.

Three hours later, it reached peak altitude of 3,604 miles above the planet, a prelude to the most challenging part of the flight, a 20,000-mph dive back into the atmosphere.

Orion survived a searing, plunge through the atmosphere, heating up to 4,000 degree Fahrenheit – twice as hot as molten lava – and experiencing gravitational forces eight times stronger than Earth’s.

Over the next few minutes, a total of 11 parachutes deployed to slow Orion’s descent, including three gigantic main chutes that guided the spaceship to a 20-mph splashdown 630 miles southwest of San Diego, California.

Liftoff of Orion

The Orion flew further from earth, NASA tweeted, “Orion is now farther than any vehicle built for humans has been in 40+ years. 3,604 miles, Orion’s peak altitude”.

Videos by Reuters/Daily Motion and NASA/Youtube