From the same Florida launchpad that blasted the first humans to the moon, NASA on Saturday will attempt a feat it hasn’t tried since the space shuttles were retired in 2011: send into orbit a spacecraft designed to transport astronauts.

The initial demonstration flight of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Crew Dragon capsule won’t carry any people, but is intended to test life-support and other systems needed to start ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the international space station later this year.