Spaceship Orion was successfully tested on landing

About spaceship Orion Habré already written more than once. It was this ship, a diameter of 5, 3 meters and weighing 25 tons, will be used to display space and cargo, and people.

For example, it is on Orion astronauts will delivered to the asteroid for his research. On the same boat, maybe people will fly to Mars (after successful completion of the asteroid mission).

Now Orion prototype runs various tests, including testing of the parachute landing system.

last test was completed a few days ago, and everything went smoothly. Capsule raised on a military plane C-17, to a height of 16 kilometers, and then dropped down (region testing - Arizona desert). The free fall lasted about 10 seconds, after which the system was launched landing with parachutes (2 and 3, the main subsidiary). Parachutes are very large, their total area is almost equal to the area of ​​a football field.

Of course, this is only the preliminary tests, because Orion, when released into the atmosphere from space, will fall with great speed, about 32 thousand kilometers per hour.

Additional tests will be held in August this year.

Sam Orion is the successor of "Shatllov» , and, as mentioned above, it can be carried out missions to the Moon, Mars, the asteroid. The first test flight, if the tests go smoothly, will be implemented by the end of this year, with heavy Delta IV rocket from NASA. The launch will be made from Cape Canaveral.

Via NASA

Source: habrahabr.ru/post/228349/