[meteorite-list] NASA Puts Orion Backup Parachutes to the Test

[Ron Baalke]

Dec. 20, 2012

Rachel Kraft 
Headquarters, Washington             
202-358-1100 
rachel.h.kraft at nasa.gov 

Brandi Dean 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111 
brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 12-441

NASA PUTS ORION BACKUP PARACHUTES TO THE TEST

HOUSTON -- NASA completed the latest in a series of parachute tests 
for its Orion spacecraft Thursday at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving 
Ground in southwestern Arizona, marking another step toward a first 
flight test in 2014. The test verified Orion can land safely even if 
one of its two drogue parachutes does not open during descent. 

Orion will take humans farther into space than ever before, but one of 
the most challenging things the multipurpose vehicle will do is bring 
its crew home safely. Because it will return from greater distances, 
Orion will reenter the Earth's atmosphere at speeds of more than 
20,000 mph. After re-entry, the parachutes are all that will lower 
the capsule carrying astronauts back to Earth. 

"The mockup vehicle landed safely in the desert and everything went as 
planned," said Chris Johnson, a NASA project manager for Orion's 
parachute assembly system. "We designed the parachute system so 
nothing will go wrong, but plan and test as though something will so 
we can make sure Orion is the safest vehicle ever to take humans to 
space." 

Orion uses five parachutes. Three are main parachutes measuring 116 
feet wide and two are drogue parachutes measuring 23 feet wide. The 
21,000-pound capsule needs only two main parachutes and one drogue. 
The extra two provide a backup in case one of the primary parachutes 
fails. 

To verify Orion could land safely with only one drogue parachute, 
engineers dropped a spacecraft mockup from a plane 25,000 feet above 
the Arizona desert and simulated a failure of one of the drogues. 
About 30 seconds into the mockup's fall, the second drogue parachute 
opened and slowed the mockup down enough for the three main 
parachutes to take over the descent. 

The next Orion parachute test is scheduled for February and will 
simulate a failure of one of the three main parachutes. 

In 2014, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch from Cape Canaveral 
Air Force Station in Florida on Exploration Flight Test-1. The 
spacecraft will travel 3,600 miles above Earth's surface. This is 15 
times farther than the International Space Station's orbit and 
farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has gone in more 
than 40 years. The main flight objective is to test Orion's heat 
shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep 
space. 

For information about Orion, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/orion 

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