US spacecraft Orion developed for Mars trip lifts off on first test flight

Nasa’s next-generation spacecraft Orion, developed to carry astronauts to an asteroid in the 2020s and to Mars in the 2030s, was launched Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in its first unmanned test flight.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the spacecraft was carried into earth orbit by a Delta 4 Heavy rocket in a flight to test its navigation system and heat-resistance materials.

Eventually the Orion spacecraft is intended to carry astronauts further into space than ever before, but uncertainty about the feasibility of the project remains due to such factors as budgetary constraints.

The Orion comprises a 5-metre-wide capsule capable of carrying four astronauts, along with an emergency ejection unit and power-supply module.

In Friday’s four-and-a-half-hour test flight, the spacecraft is expected to reach an altitude of 5,800 kilometres after circling Earth twice. It will re-enter the atmosphere at a speed of 32,000 km per hour, with the craft expected to survive temperatures reaching 2,200 Centigrade before parachuting into the Pacific Ocean, Nasa said.

The launch was originally planned for Thursday but postponed due to a technical problem on the rocket, Nasa said.

Nasa plans another unmanned test in 2018 or later using the powerful SLS rocket currently under development, before starting manned flights of the Orion in 2021 and attempting to send humans to an asteroid.

The asteroid exploration project was launched by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 after scrapping a lunar exploration programme initiated by former President George W. Bush.