NASA prepares to give 2nd try to get Orion into orbit - USA TODAY

James Dean, Florida Today 6:37 a.m. EST December 5, 2014

Video Keywords heat shield Lockheed Martin International Space Station space shuttles space shuttle program space systems Littleton Pacific Ocean San Diego

Here are the five things you need to know about NASA's Orion spacecraft that's headed to Mars. VPC

Video Transcript

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00:01 There are five main things to know about O'Brien. First
00:05 or Wright is a new type of space craft different from
00:07 the previous space shuttles NASA used for decades. It's not to
00:11 carry humans deeper to space to places they've never been before.
00:15 Like Mars second Lockheed Martin space systems in Littleton designed to
00:19 arrive. And built part of that there including the heat shield
00:23 a crucial component furthered. That heat shield is the first and
00:27 largest of its kind far different from the previous heat shields
00:30 used in space shuttle program. This unmanned launch will be a
00:34 critical test for it to see if Orion can safely reenter
00:37 Earth's atmosphere. Fort during this test or Ryan will circle the
00:41 globe and that travel 3600 miles into space fifteen times farther
00:46 than the International Space Station. During its four half hour voyage
00:50 to collect data as NASA and Lockheed Martin monitor more than
00:54 a dozen up its systems. Finally O'Brien will return to earth
00:58 splash landing in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles off the
01:02 coast of San Diego.

NASA's Orion spacecraft sits on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Dec. 4, 2014.(Photo: NASA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA was counting down Friday morning to a second attempt to launch its new exploration capsule on its inaugural test flight.

Rain was moving across the region, but showing some signs of clearing in time for the 7:05 a.m. opening of the roughly two-and-a-half hour launch window at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The first launch attempt scrubbed Thursday as engineers worked to troubleshoot a valve problem on the 243-foot Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the capsule.

Friday's launch window again goes until 9:44 a.m.

Orion is a larger version of an Apollo capsule that NASA is developing to fly astronauts to an asteroid by the 2020s, and potentially Mars by the 2030s.

USA TODAY

NASA scrubs Orion launch after multiple delays

Crews won't climb on board before 2021, after a second unmanned test planned in 2018.

The $375 million Exploration Flight Test-1 mission is primarily a test of the Orion crew module's heat shield, flight computers, and parachutes.

LIVE BLOG: NASA's Orion test flight rocket launch

The flight aims to loft Orion 3,600 miles high on its second orbit, setting up a 20,000-mph re-entry through the atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, four-and-a-half hours after the launch from Florida.

On Thursday, a mostly quiet countdown ran into trouble late.

A boat — possibly a cargo ship, according to ULA — briefly strayed into the launch danger zone in the Atlantic Ocean, preventing an on-time liftoff.

Strong winds then twice halted countdowns a few minutes before planned launch times.

Finally, liquid hydrogen valves in two of the Delta IV Heavy rocket's three boosters failed to close properly, stopping short a third try before 8:30 a.m. The issue couldn't be fixed before the window closed at 9:44 a.m.

Dan Collins, ULA chief operating officer, said the valves got "cold and a little sluggish" more than an hour into the launch window, an issue seen on a previous launch by the same type of rocket.

Even though the rocket and Orion together weigh 1.6 million pounds, strong or gusting winds can still push the rocket and cause it to drift as it rises slowly from its Launch Complex 37 pad.

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