14 DAY TRIAL // If you're one of those people who like to keep tabs on the news, you probably know that, just a few days ago, on December 5, NASA's Mars-bound spacecraft successfully completed its maiden voyage.
The spacecraft left Earth atop a rocket at 7:05 a.m. EST on the dot, reached an altitude of 3,604.2 miles (5,800.3 kilometers), circled our planet twice and eventually landed in the Pacific Ocean, from where it was recovered.
Recent news on this historic event says that, this past Monday, NASA's Orion spacecraft finally made it back to shore. Thus, it was yesterday night that the vessel carrying the spacecraft docked in San Diego, California.
Soon enough, Orion was off-loaded and, having said goodbye to the USS Anchorage and its crew, was sent on a cross-country trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After arriving at the Kennedy Space Center, the spacecraft will be entrusted to scientists who will get to work processing the data collected by sensors while Orion was busy exploring space.
As mentioned, the Orion spacecraft is expected to one day carry astronauts all the way to Mars. Thus, the flight test that was carried out this December 5 served to assess the spacecraft's resilience.
“Orion’s flight tested many of the systems most critical to crew safety, including key separation events, parachutes and its heat shield,” NASA explains in a statement.
To get a better idea of how the Orion recovery mission went and what the spacecraft looked like after finally having returned to Earth, check out the photo gallery below.
