NASA is making a second attempt at an uncrewed test flight of its new Orion spacecraft today, after yesterday's launch was scrubbed. The test flight will begin with a sunrise liftoff — should all go well, of course. Orion is the most ambitious spacecraft since its lookalike Apollo. If NASA is successful, ultimately Orion could be used to ferry people to Mars in the coming decades. Today there are no people aboard, though some important cargo is: a cookie from Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.
Yesterday was the first attempt at a launch, but it was ultimately unsuccessful as a series of attempted launches were aborted — first, for a boat in a launch area, then wind, and finally, when a valve malfunctioned.
