(CNN)With one 4½-hour flight Friday, the new spacecraft series that NASA hopes will take astronauts to Mars passed its first test above Earth. NASA's Orion capsule -- part of America's bid to take crews beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo missions -- splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday morning after lapping the planet twice on an uncrewed test flight. The cone-shaped craft, slowed by a series of parachutes, settled onto the water at 8:29 a.m. PT (11:29 a.m. ET) about 600 miles southwest of San Diego. "America has driven a golden spike as it crosses a bridge into the future," a NASA announcer said as the capsule bobbed on the ocean's surface during the agency's TV broadcast of the event.
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Orion splashes down 600 miles southwest of San Diego
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New spacecraft orbits Earth twice on its first test flight
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Orion went father from Earth than any craft designed for human since 1972
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Valve problems scrubbed Orion test launch on Thursday
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It was a crucial test for the capsule: @placeholder wants to prove flight and re-entry abilities before it carries astronauts.
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The Orion crew module, which looks like a throwback to the @placeholder era, but roomier, could take astronauts back to the moon, but also far beyond.
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One of Orion's tasks might be to send astronauts to an asteroid -- perhaps one that @placeholder would first robotically redirect to orbit around the moon.
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NASA hopes Orion later will send astronauts to Mars' moons, and, eventually, to the @placeholder itself.
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By comparison, the @placeholder crew modules held three astronauts and were in space for six to 12 days.
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Orion's crew module is 16.5 feet in diameter and @placeholder was 12.8 feet in diameter, NASA said.
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Friday's launch came a day after @placeholder scrubbed its first attempt because of a failure of some valves in the boosters to close.