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An unmanned U.S. spaceship designed to one day fly astronauts to Mars blasted off on Friday for an unmanned trial run around Earth.
A Delta 4 Heavy rocket, currently the biggest booster in the U.S. fleet, lifted off at 7:05 a.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co that builds and flies the rocket, delayed launch by one day to resolve a problem with sluggish values in the rocket's first-stage propellant system.
Riding atop a fountain of fire, the 24-story-tall rocket soared out over the Atlantic Ocean, punching through partly cloudy skies as it headed into orbit.
Cars jammed roads for miles around the spaceport as thousands of people attempted to catch a glimpse of the launch. The last time crowds this large gathered for rocket-watching was for the space shuttle, which stopped flying in 2011.
NASA has been working on
