Orion Drop Test in Arizona Successful

Posted
by
Doug Messier
on July 18, 2012, at 8:09 am
in News
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Comments: 3 responses
3 Comments

An Orion capsule descends under parachute near Yuma, Arizona. (Credit: NASA)

NASA PR — CPAS just completed the EDU-A-CDT-3-5 (PTV-2) airdrop test. All visuals indicate a nominal parachute test. Recovery operations at the DZ will begin shortly to return the test hardware to the hanger in Yuma which will complete the day’s activities.

The Orion Parachute Test Vehicle inside the C17 ready for the drop test. (Credit: NASA)

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  • Bojan Pecnik

    Hmm, from the airplane pic it looks as if the parachute was outside of Orion prior to the drop. Is this true? If so, does it still count as a complete chute test?

  • http://www.parabolicarc.com Doug Messier

    No, that’s not the case. If you watch the video, you will see that there are a couple of drogue chutes on the outside to stabilize the capsule during the early part of the drop test. Then the spacecraft’s drogue chutes deploy followed by the main chutes. http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/07/19/video-nasa-completes-another-orion-drop-test/

  • Bojan Pecnik

    Ok, that makes sense. Tnx for clearing this out for me Doug!