>> renee marsh, cnn, washington. >> turning to another story. just under seven hours from now, the orion will make its way into orbit and circle earth twice. it's approaching 12:30 late tonight. the spacecraft is testing out new technologies that may send people further to space than ever before. >> one step closer to humans landing on mars. this is orion. na nasa's first deep space capsule since the '70s. >> why is this the time to do this. >> it's a great time because we have a design. and we put the design into practice. >> reporter: nasa's program manager says the launch will test critical technologies like the heat shield and entry system. orion may look a lot like the