On December 5 2014, NASA successfully launched its Orion spacecraft into space. The launch marked NASA's return to space exploration. The spacecraft lifted off aboard a Delta IV Heavy Rocket to a height of 3,600 miles above the Earth, for an unmanned test flight that lasted 4.5 hours.
The Orion space craft which was built by Lockheed Martin, is a return to the capsule design that was used in the Apollo missions. The Orion is 16.5 feet in diameter which is 1.5 times larger then the Apollo capsules, and is designed to seat up to six crew members. Like the Apollo spacecrafts, the Orion will also be joined to a service module which was built by the European Space Agency. The service module will contain foldout solar panels for electricity, oxygen for life support, and rocket engines for propelling the spacecraft.
At the end of its flight, Orion returned to Earth at a speed of 20,000 miles per hour as its heat shield brought it successfully through the atmosphere. Its huge main parachutes brought it to a safe splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Orion is not scheduled to fly again until a scheduled launch in 2017, when it will make an unmanned flight to and around the moon. At that time it is expected to use the Space Launch Systems rocket to lift it into space.
Orion's primary mission goal is a manned flight to Mars. However, no manned flights are scheduled until 2021.
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