Video: Orion flight preps

The four astronauts will spend more than nine days onboard their Orion spacecraft and is poised to pass the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39B is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 UTC).

A Canadian space flier will join three NASA crew members on the first piloted flight of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft around the moon, becoming the first non-U.S. astronaut on a lunar voyage, officials announced last week.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a Senate panel Wednesday that a budget impasse and subsequent spending freeze later this year would be “devastating” to the agency’s goal of sending the first woman and next man to the moon by the end of 2024.