Video: The launch of Orion

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.

NASA’s top human spaceflight official says the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, a behemoth booster designed to loft astronauts on expeditions into deep space, will be delayed from November 2018 until some time in 2019, according to a report published by a U.S. government watchdog Thursday.

A three-minute test flight Tuesday morning over Cape Canaveral will help ensure NASA’s Orion crew capsule — the vehicle being built to carry astronauts back to the moon — can safely escape from a catastrophic failure on launch.