The Orion spacecraft successfully touched down in the Pacific Ocean Friday morning, 4.5 hours after launching into space.
NASA had called off three successive countdowns on Thursday in the wake of wind gusts and valve problems with the vessel, but the mission went off as planned Friday.
“There’s your new spacecraft, America,” Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said moments before the Orion capsule landed in the water, the AP reports.
The experimental craft orbited the Earth twice and traveled a distance of 3,600 miles into space before the landing. The Orion project is a Lockheed Martin and Boeing joint venture that undertakes commercial and U.S. government launches.
“The flight is designed to test many of the most vital elements for human spaceflight and will provide critical data needed to improve Orion’s design and reduce risks to future mission crews,” read a NASA statement.
A History of the Orion Spacecraft in Pictures
NASA's Orion spacecraft, atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, lifts off on its first unmanned orbital test flight from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 5, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Chris O'Meara—APNASA’s Orion spacecraft awaits its first flight test on Dec. 4, 2014 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 in Florida.Bill Ingalls—NASATeam members work to secure a test version of Orion in the Pacific Ocean during a test recovery mission on Sept. 17, 2014.Kim Shiflett—NASAAn artist's illustration of the 38-story launch system with Orion on top.NASA / MSFCA model of Orion floats above an underwater mockup of the International Space Station in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston on April 25, 2013. Bill Stafford—JSC/NASAA version of the engine that will power Orion's launch system burns during a hot-fire test on Nov. 27, 2012 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. NASA/SSCThe NASA team at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans completed the final weld on the first space-bound Orion capsule, on June 22, 2012.NASAOrion's launch system undergoes a hot-fire test.Aerojet RocketdyneThe Orion capsule sits within the Vehicle Assembly Building on May 24, 2012 in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Dmitri Gerondidakis—NASAAn artist's illustration of Orion's Flight Test NASAThe 16.5 ft. diameter, titanium heat shield was fabricated by Lockheed Martin in Denver for the Orion spacecraft. The shield will have to withstand temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Patrick H. Corkery—Lockheed MartinA test model of the Orion spacecraft was dropped high above the the Arizona desert on Feb. 29, 2012. NASAGround teams in White Sands, New Mexico, practice an abort test on Sept. 24, 2009. NASA