Beachgoers in the coming days could find bright orange boxes emblazoned with NASA's logo floating in with Space Coast waves, the eye-catching results of a test targeting early Tuesday for liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

After an Orion capsule takes flight on a former Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile at 7 a.m., NASA will perform a test of the launch abort system designed to pull astronauts away from a rocket in the event of an emergency. As the uncrewed test capsule descends toward the Atlantic Ocean some seven miles off the coast, 12 flight data recorders will be ejected, ready to be picked up by teams scouring the area.

But be warned: The flight data recorders, which can fit in a grasped hand and weigh about a pound, are NASA property and need to be returned to the agency. Contact information will be printed on the side. And yes, the bright orange data recorders are tracked via automatically activated beacons.

"They float, and they do have a label on them," said Jenny Devolites, NASA's crew module manager for the mission, known as Ascent Abort-2. "They also actually have a beacon and transmitter so we can locate them."

NASA only needs one of the FDRs to get the data, but the 11 others will still be recovered and act as backups. Finders should use the email address or phone number printed on the side to contact NASA directly for pickup.

Ascent Abort-2 is part of NASA's Artemis plan to return humans to the moon by 2024. If all goes according to plan, the abort system will be tasked with keeping a watchful eye over human lives for Artemis-2, slated to be the program's first crewed flight no earlier than 2022.

"We've got the fastest-accelerating launch abort system ever designed," Randy Bresnik, a NASA astronaut and Marine Corps aviator, said at Kennedy Space Center on Monday. "The next time this full launch abort system flies, there will be crew underneath it in Artemis-2. That's why it's really great to be able to see this test."

Teams have four hours to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 46. Weather stands at 70% "go," according to Air Force forecasters.

Mission specifics

Orion's Launch Abort System, or LAS, is designed to quickly and automatically pull astronauts away from a failing rocket. Tuesday morning's test will only be conducted on the system's ability to fire successfully, flip around to re-orient the heat shield toward Earth, then jettison away from the spacecraft.

The test, which will last about three minutes, will be clearly visible to spectators on the Space Coast. No parachutes will be seen, however, as that system has been tested separately and not needed for Tuesday's mission.

The timeline:

• If liftoff happens on time at 7 a.m., 500,000 pounds of thrust will take Orion and its LAS off LC-46. The booster itself is a former ICBM first stage that once lived in an Air Force missile silo.

• Fifty-five seconds into the flight at 31,000 feet, computers perform a mock emergency and initiate the abort system, which fires its solid rocket motors and pulls Orion away from the booster. It will gain two more miles in altitude.

• At 43,000 feet, control motors will flip the capsule to orient the heat shield toward Earth.

• At 44,000 feet, the abort system will jettison from the spacecraft and fall into the ocean. As Orion descends, it will eject the 12 flight data recorders.

Both the launch abort system and Orion spacecraft are expected to sink, so neither will be recovered after the test.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

Launch Tuesday

Rocket: Northrop Grumman Minotaur IV

Mission: Orion Ascent Abort-2

Launch Time: 7 a.m.

Launch Window: To 11 a.m.

Launch Complex: 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Weather: 70% "go"

Join floridatoday.com/space for countdown updates and chat starting at 6 a.m. Tuesday, including streaming of NASA's webcast.