Orion splashes down after first, 2-orbit test flight

NASA's Orion capsule has splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after its first, unmanned, two-orbit test flight. It came down on the surface of the ocean at 11:29 a.m. ET about 270 miles off the coast of Baja California, NASA said. NASA's new Orion spacecraft lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral and rocketed to orbit Friday morning -- the first test flight for a program that NASA hopes eventually will get astronauts to asteroids and Mars. The 4.5-hour, uncrewed, two-orbit flight is taking Orion farther from Earth than any craft designed for human flight has been since the Apollo 17 mission to the moon in 1972. More

(Source: CNN - Dec 5)