Exploration Flight Test-1

Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1 (previously known as Orion Flight Test 1 or OFT-1) was a technology demonstration mission and the first flight test of the crew module portion of the Orion spacecraft. Without a crew, it was launched on December 5, 2014, at 12:05 UTC (7:05 am EST, local time at the launch site) by a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The mission was a four-hour, two-orbit test of the Orion crew module featuring a high apogee on the second orbit and concluding with a high-energy reentry at around 20,000 miles per hour (32,000 km/h). This mission design corresponds to the AS-201 and AS-202 missions of 1966, which validated the flight control system and heat shield of the Apollo command and service module at re-entry conditions planned for the return from lunar missions.