Orion spaceship launch: success as Nasa's Mars crew capsule enters orbit on second try

The ship lifted off this afternoon and will come back down in a few hours, on a flight that is going perfectly so far

Orion, the capsule that will one day take humans to Mars, was successfully launched into space today — it will fly into space, before coming back down as part of a test that will decide the future of manned space travel.

The Delta 4 rocket carrying the capsule took off as planned at 12.05GMT, 7.05am local time, and will spend four hours in space before splashing back down in the Pacific Ocean. Nasa is broadcasting the whole mission live.

The flight was all going to plan during its first hours, as it completed its first lap of the earth. The only technical problems seemed to be with the live feed — which stuttered and broke as liftoff approached, meaning that those watching never saw the rocket actually leave the ground.

The mission is a test of the Orion capsule that could one day carry humans onto an asteroid and also take the Nasa manned Mars mission. It also seen as a test of commercial space flight, since the capsule was made by Lockheed Martin.

There are 1,200 sensors on board the capsule, testing whether the mission would be safe for humans. After the capsule lands, engineers will explore that data to determine whether changes need to be made.

The launch was a day later than planned, after rogue boats, strong winds and a problem fuel valve delayed plans to launch yesterday. Nasa tried firing the rocket into space four times, but each launch was hit by problems.

It then postponed the launch until this afternoon.

The ship will fly twice around earth, travelling through the Van Allen radiation belt twice, before splashing back down in the Pacific Ocean and being picked up by Navy boats.