Test of the Orion parachute recovery system, derived from the system NASA used to recover the Apollo spacecraft (Credits: U.S. Army).

Source NASA: HOUSTON — NASA this week completed the first in a series of flight-like parachute tests for the agency’s Orion spacecraft. The drop tests at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona support the design and development of the Orion parachute assembly. Flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet, a drop-test article that mimicked the Orion parachute compartment was deployed from a C-130 aircraft. Once airborne, two drogue chutes were deployed at an altitude of 19,000 feet, followed by three pilot parachutes, which then deployed three main landing parachutes. The drop test article speed as it impacted the desert was approximately 25 feet per second. The tests were the closest simulation so far to what the actual Orion parachute landing phase will be during a return from space. Since 2007, the Orion program has tested the spacecraft’s parachutes and performed 20 drop tests. The program provided the chutes for NASA’s pad abort test in 2010 and performed numerous ground-based tests. Results from the previous experiences were incorporated into the parachute design used in this test. To learn more about the development of Orion, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/orion Originally published by NASA on September 22, 2011.

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Andrea Gini

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Andrea Gini is a content strategy consultant specialized in companies of the space sector. He is founder of Space Safety Magazine, where he held the position of Editor-in-Chief until March 2015. Between 2011 and 2013 he worked in the European Space Agency in the Independent Safety Office, which overviews the utilization of the International Space Station. He previously worked as Software Developer, IT Consultant, and trainer of Java-related technologies. Andrea holds a BSc and an MSc in computer science from the University of Milano, a Master in Communication of Science from the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste and a MSc in Space Studies from the International Space University.

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