Today NASA is launching what I believe is the first actual field test of the new Orion capsule. If you haven’t seen Orion yet, it looks a lot like the old Apollo capsules that the lunar astronauts rode to the moon and back except it’s bigger and awesomer.

The countdown was held at three minutes and change for some reason, but the folks in charge are working on clearing whatever it is that’s holding things up.

Fingers crossed that all goes well. A successful test today brings us a step closer to Mars.