Orion's brief space trip was a success, and here are the photos to prove it

After a 24-hour delay, NASA successfully launched Orion this morning.

The next generation aircraft is designed to take humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s, and today’s test flight showed it should be able to do so. After orbiting the Earth twice, the spacecraft is already back, “gently bobbing” in the Pacific Ocean. Good to see you, old friend.

NASA’s livestream showed Orion returning to Earth, and another camera shot its descent. The grainy shots don’t much compare to NASA’s artist illustrations — here’s an approximation of Orion’s heat shield on its return to Earth.

But they are beautiful in their own right. Here’s what Earth looks like from Orion, roughly 10-15 minutes ahead of touchdown: