Orion's first test flight

On this day in 2014, a new spacecraft called Orion flew into space for the first time, with no one aboard. It circled the Earth twice, swinging far out into space, then raced home through the air and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, all in about four and a half hours.

Why it mattered

The flight tested Orion's heat shield, which keeps a spacecraft cool as it comes home very fast. Orion is the spacecraft built to carry astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis missions.