Latest Launch escape system Stories
NASA Completely surrounded by a massive 20-foot-high structure called the crew module static load test fixture, the Orion crew module is being put through a series of tests that simulate the massive loads the spacecraft would experience during its mission. Orion is NASA’s new exploration spacecraft, designed to carry humans farther into space than ever before. During its first flight test next year, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), it will travel 3,600 miles into space and return to...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online During a simulation of two types of parachute failures this past Wednesday, a test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft made a safe landing. The mock capsule was traveling approximately 250 mph during the test in Yuma, Arizona, when the parachutes were deployed. This is the highest speed reached by the craft as part of a series of tests designed to certify the parachute system for carrying humans. The mission’s engineers rigged...
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A test version of NASA's Orion spacecraft safely landed during a simulation of two types of parachute failures Wednesday. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) In the test, conducted in Yuma, Ariz., the mock capsule was traveling about 250 mph when the parachutes were deployed. That is the highest speed the craft has experienced as part of the test series designed to certify Orion's parachute system for...
ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) successfully delivered a launch abort motor to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) of NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, scheduled to fly next year. The test flight abort motor is configured with inert propellant, since the EFT-1 mission will have no crew on board, but otherwise replicates the launch abort system that will ensure astronaut safety on future crewed Orion exploration...
NASA engineers have demonstrated the agency's Orion spacecraft can land safely if one of its three main parachutes fails to inflate during deployment. The test was conducted Tuesday in Yuma, Ariz., with the parachutes attached to a test article. Engineers rigged the parachutes so only two would inflate, leaving the third to flag behind, when the test capsule was dropped from a plane 25,000 feet above the Arizona desert. "Today is a great validation of the parachute system," said Chris...
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA engineers have demonstrated the agency's Orion spacecraft can land safely if one of its three main parachutes fails to inflate during deployment. (Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The test was conducted Tuesday in Yuma, Ariz., with the parachutes attached to a test article. Engineers rigged the parachutes so only two would inflate, leaving the third to flag behind, when the test capsule was...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent engineering advances by NASA and its industry partners across the country show important progress toward Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), the next step to launching humans to deep space. The uncrewed EFT-1 mission, launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2014, will test the re-entry performance of the agency's Orion capsule, the most advanced spacecraft ever designed, which will carry astronauts farther...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Aerospace research and development firm Blue Origin conducted a successful pad escape test last Friday (Oct. 19) at the company’s West Texas launch facility, launching a full-scale suborbital crew capsule from a simulated propulsion module. The test, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), was also conducted under its Space Act Agreement with NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative....
VAN HORN, Texas, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin conducted a successful pad escape test Friday at the company's West Texas launch site, firing its pusher-escape motor and launching a full-scale suborbital crew capsule from a simulated propulsion module. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The test was part of Blue Origin's work supporting its funded Space Act Agreement with NASA during...
NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin has successfully fired the thrust chamber assembly for its new 100,000 pound thrust BE-3 liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen rocket engine. As part of Blue's Reusable Booster System (RBS), the engines are designed eventually to launch the biconic-shaped Space Vehicle the company is developing. The test was part of Blue Origin's work supporting its funded Space Act Agreement with NASA during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2)....
