NASA's Orion Spacecraft successfully completed its first flight test on Friday.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Pad 37 Friday morning aboard a Delta IV heavy rocket was NASA's and the USA's first major step towards manned flights to Mars and beyond. The unmanned spaceship, titled Orion (which, not surprisingly, looks a lot like an old Apollo flight module) reached an altitude of 3,000 miles (5,794 km - for perspective, the International Space Station is 268 miles high) and a speed of around 20,000 mph (32,187 km/h). The craft passed through the Van Allen Belt, where it got a high dose of radiation. It then continued around the Earth in high orbit for approximately four and a half hours. It then traveled back through the Van Allen belt and splashed down approximately 600 miles (966 km) south of San Diego, California. While in space, NASA tested several key systems including avionics, computers, parachutes, several safety systems including it's heat shield and radiation shielding, and rocket separation systems. “ We really pushed Orion as much as we could to give us real data that we can use to improve Orion’s design going forward, ” said Mark Geyer, Manager of the Orion Program. “ In the coming weeks and months we'll be taking a look at that invaluable information and applying lessons learned to the next Orion spacecraft already in production for the first mission atop the Space Launch System rocket. ”

For more information about Orion, its flight test and its eventual journey to Mars, you can visit
NASA's official Orion hub and this Orion mission page.

For upcoming NASA launches and mission info, you can view their schedule here.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LAUNCH? ARE YOU EXCITED FOR ORION TO BRING US TO MARS?
LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

WRITTEN BY CHENZA
EDITED BY FLICKY