Video: The launch of Orion

NASA’s first space-worthy Orion capsule blasted off atop a Delta 4-Heavy booster rocket for a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise in orbit. Liftoff occurred at 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT), with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 a.m. EST (1629 GMT).

With the Space Launch System’s inaugural test flight now officially delayed to November 2021, NASA says work halted by the coronavirus pandemic will resume within weeks to prepare for the first test-firing of the SLS core stage at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule will lift off on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37B launch pad.