Michael Braukus/J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-1979/5241
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov/j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

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


RELEASE: 11-322

NASA COMPLETES ORION SPACECRAFT PARACHUTE TESTING IN ARIZONA

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