Come back tomorrow: Problems delay Orion Mars test launch

The first test launch of NASA’s new deep space capsule, Orion, was called off on Thursday due to high winds, technical issues with the rocket and a misplaced boat off the coast. The capsule is meant to carry humans to an asteroid or Mars in the coming years. No astronauts were on board the spacecraft, attached to a Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral, which will now take off on Friday.

A part of me hopes that everything is perfect. We land, have high-fives and everybody has a great time.

Orion program manager Mark Geyer

With no American vehicle to send humans to space since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, some at NASA said the Orion launch has re-energized the US space program, long constrained by government belt-tightening and forced to rely on costly rides aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft to reach the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit. Potential future missions for Orion, which is designed to fit four people at a time, include a trip to lasso an asteroid and a journey to Mars by the 2030s.

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