[meteorite-list] NASA Completes Another Successful Orion Parachute Test

[Ron Baalke]

July 18, 2012

Trent J Perrotto 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-0321 
trent.j.perrotto at nasa.gov 

Josh Byerly 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111 
josh.byerly at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 12-239

NASA COMPLETES ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL ORION PARACHUTE TEST

HOUSTON -- NASA completed another successful test Wednesday of the 
Orion crew vehicle's parachutes high above the Arizona desert in 
preparation for the spacecraft's orbital flight test in 2014. Orion 
will carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before, provide 
emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and 
ensure a safe re-entry and landing. 

A C-17 plane dropped a test version of Orion from an altitude of 
25,000 feet above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in southwestern 
Arizona. This test was the second to use an Orion craft that mimics 
the full size and shape of the spacecraft. 

Orion's drogue chutes were deployed between 15,000 feet and 20,000 
feet, followed by the pilot parachutes, which deployed the main 
landing parachutes. Orion descended about 25 feet per second, well 
below its maximum designed touchdown speed, when it landed on the 
desert floor. 

"Across the country, NASA and industry are moving forward on the most 
advanced spacecraft ever designed, conducting drop and splashdown 
tests, preparing ground systems, designing software and computers and 
paving the way for the future of exploration," said William 
Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and 
Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 
"Today's parachute test in Yuma is an important reminder of the 
progress being made on Orion and its ultimate mission -- enabling 
NASA to meet the goal of sending humans to an asteroid and Mars." 

Orion parachutes have so-called reefing lines, which when cut by a 
pyrotechnic device, allow the parachute to open gradually, managing 
the initial amount of drag and force on the parachute. The main 
objective of the latest drop test was to determine how the entire 
system would respond if one of the reefing lines was cut prematurely, 
causing the three main parachutes to inflate too quickly. 

Since 2007, the Orion program has conducted a vigorous parachute air 
and ground test program and provided the chutes for NASA's successful 
pad abort test in 2010. All of the tests build an understanding of 
the chutes' technical performance for eventual human-rated 
certification. 

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 understand Orion's 
heat shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep 
space. 

In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a 
heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for 
human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for 
launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new 
missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar 
system. 

For more information about Orion and for video and images of 
Wednesday's test, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/orion 
	
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