The Orion capsule designed to carry astronauts into deep space, yesterday splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, on the west coast of the United States, after completing its first unmanned test drive.
The vehicle, after leaving the space, returned to Earth, just as planned, four hours and twenty minutes after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the southeast US, driven by a Delta IV rocket.
“This is an important milestone on the path to future missions to Mars,” said commentator US Space Agency (NASA) to broadcast live the vehicle falling into the sea. Teams from NASA and two US Navy ships awaiting the arrival of the capsule in an area located 275 kilometers off the coast of Baja California.
The capsule, which traveled 24,000 kilometers per hour, gave twice around the Earth at a distance of 5,793 kilometers, about 15 times farther than the distance to the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the greatest distance traveled by a spacecraft designed for Transportation of people in the last four decades since the Apollo missions to the man reached the moon.
The Orion activated systems to reduce the rate of entry into the Earth and deployed his parachute and oranges whites who helped him maintain a stable position into the sea.
The capsule is the new spacecraft that will allow the United States to return to manned trips, an ability which lost to withdraw its fleet in 2011 ferries.
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