SAN DIEGO (AP) ― NASA’s new Orion spacecraft returned to dry land in Southern California after a test flight that ended with a plunge into the Pacific Ocean.
A Navy ship, the USS Anchorage, delivered the capsule to Naval Base San Diego and unloaded the cone.
Orion made an unmanned flight Friday that carried it above Earth to test the spacecraft’s systems before it carries astronauts on deep space missions.
During reentry into the atmosphere, the spacecraft endured speeds of 32,000 kph and temperatures near 2,200 degrees Celsius.
It parachuted into the ocean southwest of San Diego, where the ship picked it up.
NASA recovery director Jeremy Graeber called the mission a “great success” and said the recovery from the ocean was “flawless.”
“It was quite a thing to see, because it was challenging to get to that point, and to see the orchestration work exactly as we laid it out was priceless,” he said.
NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. assisted in Orion’s recovery.
The spacecraft may one day carry astronauts to Mars, but its next trip will be on a truck that will carry it back to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in time for Christmas.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
