Video: Orion flight preps

A camera mounted aboard the Orion capsule for the EFT-1 test flight records the space capsules plunge toward the Pacific Ocean and its splashdown beneath three parachutes.

Video as seen live of the Orion spaceship launching atop a powerful Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral on Friday, Dec. 5.

In a major shift, NASA is considering using two commercial launchers to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule and its European-built service module on a test flight around the moon next year, maintaining the lunar test flight’s schedule despite fresh delays in the development of the multibillion-dollar Space Launch System that jeopardize the heavy-lifter’s 2020 inaugural flight, the agency’s administrator said in a congressional hearing Wednesday.