Now showing
ORR Chute Test July 2013 720p
About this film
A test version of the Orion capsule descends on two parachutes after being dropped from a C-17 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert on Wednesday, July 24. The third of its three main parachutes was cut away early in the test to simulate a failure. The results allowed engineers to verify that if such a failure were to occur, the failed parachute wouldn't interfere with the remaining two. The cut away parachute is briefly visible in the video, floating alone near the top of the screen, as is an additional parachute carrying the sled that Orion rode out of the plane. It can be briefly spotted on the right side of the screen. This was the highest-altitude test of a human spacecraft parachute since NASA's Apollo Program.
Subjects
Orion, parachute test
More from this pool