AP Photo/NASA In this frame grab from NASA-TV, the Orion spacecraft descends before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, following a dramatic test flight that took it to a zenith height of 3,600 miles and ushered in a new era of human exploration aiming for Mars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA's new Orion spacecraft made a "bull's-eye" splashdown in the Pacific on Friday following a dramatic test flight that took it to a zenith of 3,604 miles and ushered in a new era of human exploration aiming for Mars.

The unmanned test flight ended 4 hours after it began and achieved at least one record: flying farther and faster than any capsule built for humans since the Apollo moon program.

"There's your new spacecraft, America," Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said as the Orion capsule neared the water 270 miles off Mexico's Baja peninsula.

Navias called the journey "the most perfect flight you could ever imagine."

Blast off! NASA launches Orion spacecraft on first Mars test flight

NASA is counting on future Orions to carry astronauts beyond Earth's orbit, to asteroids and ultimately the grand prize: Mars.

The agency reported some positive results, saying onboard computers were unaffected by high radiation in space.

The capsule reached a peak altitude more than 14 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station. No spacecraft designed for astronauts had gone so far since Apollo 17 NASA's final moon shot 42 years ago.

NASA needed to send Orion that high in order to set the crew module up for a 20,000-mph, 4,000-degree entry. That was considered the most critical part of the entire flight testing the largest of its kind heat shield for survival before humans climb aboard.

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