The first flight test of Orion, NASA’s next-generation spacecraft capable of sending astronauts on future missions to an asteroid and the journey to Mars, is scheduled to launch today at 7:05 a.m. EST, atop a ULA Delta IV Heavy from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orion/Delta IV launch teams approved fueling this morning of the Delta IV Heavy rocket with cryogenic propellants. NASA TV coverage begins at 6 a.m. There is a two-hour, 39-minute launch window.

During the flight test, the un-crewed Orion will orbit Earth twice and travel to a distance of 3,600 miles into space before splashing down in the Pacific.