Orion spacecraft's flawless test flight marks dawn of new chapter in Mars exploration

The flawless test flight of NASA's new Orion spacecraft has foreshadowed the first human expedition to Mars.

The 19,000-pound capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles southwest of San Diego about four and a half hours after it was launched into orbit from Florida, the Guardian reported.

Mission control commentator Rob Navias said "there's your new spacecraft, America," as Orion neared the water.

The capsule, which will be carried for the next few days in the well deck of the USS Anchorage back to San Diego, 630 miles to the north-east, not only survived launch and orbit, but also temperatures of about 2,200C (4,000F) as it returned through Earth's atmosphere.

The agency has planned a second unmanned flight for 2018, and a manned mission to travel around the moon for the 2020s. Eventually, it hopes to send astronauts on an Orion mission through deep space to an asteroid and Mars in the 2030s.

Nasa said all of Orion's systems operated "to perfection" during the flight, which cost 370m dollars and if all continues to go well, the earliest a Mars mission is likely to take place in the mid 2030s, meaning that those future astronauts are today's pre-schoolers.

Charles Bolden, Nasa's chief administrator, who watched the dawn launch with his wife, said that the first humans who will set foot on Mars are alive on Earth today.

Nasa astronaut Rex Waldheim said following the launch that everyone wants to go to Mars.