Fitting that the dawn of a new era of space exploration would begin with a spectacular sunrise! This shot was taken at dawn on December 4, 2014, before technical issues would lead to a launch scrub, pushing it to the next day. And the next day it went, triumphantly! On December 5, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop it launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37, Florida. Orion orbited Earth twice, reaching an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles above Earth before landing. No one was aboard Orion for this flight test, but the spacecraft is designed to allow us to journey to destinations never before visited by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. Photo credit: magnumji / natgeo #Orion #JourneyToMars #DeltaIVHeavy #sunrise #launch #NASA #deepspace #exploration nasa lockheedmartin ulalaunch nasajohnson exploredeepspace