Nasa ORION ship, the begin of the ultimate goal of the "Experience" ?

[Ellipse]

Tomorrow Nasa will launch the flight test of ORION, the ship to go to Mars. Explanations here: http://www.space.com/27833-nasa-orion-capsule-first-test-flight-infographic.html
With a such name, I'm asking myself if this is not the first step to go back home. And perhaps, that this is one of the big part of the Experience. To see if we manage to go back home.

Just a thought.

Live of the launch: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VH5QK0LF8xI

 

[axj]

Since the first manned flight will be only after 2020, who knows if the Orion program will still be running then.

 

[Archaea]

It would be interesting to know what the real intentions are behind the Orion program, could it just be a PR campaign?

 

[Palinurus]

The ORION launch had to be postponed till Friday due to malfunction of a fuel valve and adverse weather conditions:

_https://www.google.com/search?hl=nl&gl=nl&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=launch+orion+nasa&oq=launch+orion+nasa&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.4198.9705.0.12938.17.1.0.16.0.0.124.124.0j1.1.0...0.0...1ac.1.p-5VXNIQICA&gws_rd=ssl