Take 2: NASA Launches Unmanned Space Capsule Orion to Mars

NASA Successfully Launches Unmanned 'Mars Craft' Orion at 5.30 p.m IST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A NASA Orion capsule on top of a Delta IV rocket sits on the pad at Complex 37 B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The first orbit is to be about as high as the International Space Station, which circles at an altitude of about 430 kilometers.

The second orbit would soar 15 times higher, to an apogee of 5793.638 kilometres above the Earth.

The spacecraft is supposed to plunge into the waters off San Diego, California to be retrieved by the US Navy.

An analysis of sophisticated sensors on the capsule should let NASA know if the temperature inside remained survivable for a potential crew.

The launch is the first in more than 40 years of a US spacecraft intended to carry humans beyond the Moon.

A launch team completed fueling the three core boosters of the Delta IV Heavy and pumps are now in trickle mode meaning they will top off the tanks as the countdown moves ahead.

Potential future missions for Orion, which can fit four people at a time, include a trip to lasso an asteroid and a journey to Mars by the 2030s.

NASA has already spent $9.1 billion on Orion.

A look at Orion/Delta IV-Heavy on the morning of December 5, 2014.