Tenth Parachute Test for NASA's Orion

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Tenth Parachute Test for NASA's Orion Adds 10,000 Feet of Success

WASHINGTON -- A complicated, high-altitude test Wednesday demonstrated NASA's new Orion spacecraft could land safely even if one of its parachutes failed.

The 10th in a series of evaluations to check out the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle's parachute system dropped the test capsule from a C-17 aircraft at its highest altitude yet, 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert. One of three massive main parachutes was cut away early on purpose, leaving the spacecraft to land with only two. The test at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground was the highest-altitude test of a human spacecraft parachute since NASA's Apollo Program.

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Orion Parachutes Pass the Test

A test version of the Orion capsule descends on two parachutes after being dropped from a C-17 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert on Wednesday, July 24. The third of its three main parachutes was cut away early in the test to simulate a failure. The results allowed engineers to verify that if such a failure were to occur, the failed parachute wouldn't interfere with the remaining two. The cut away parachute is briefly visible in the video, floating alone near the top of the screen, as is an additional parachute carrying the sled that Orion rode out of the plane. It can be briefly spotted on the right side of the screen. This was the highest-altitude test of a human spacecraft parachute since NASA's Apollo Program.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia