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Aug 20, 2008 01:18 PM | 7
Budding astronauts, avert your eyes. NASA has posted photos of a failed test landing (read: crash) of a mock-up of the Orion crew exploration vehicle, part of the Constellation program to replace the shuttle in 2015.
NASA dropped the Orion mock-up from a C-17 aircraft flying 25,000 feet about the U.S. Army's Yuma Testing Grounds in Arizona on July 31. The good news: All but one of 18 parachutes inflated. The bad news: That 18th one was responsible for orienting the mock-up for a safe landing (see results at left). The space agency said it was torn and didn't inflate properly.
Keith Cowing of NASAWatch.com wonders why NASA isn't advertising the new images, posted online yesterday without fanfare.
Image credit: NASA
Tags:
NASA,
Orion,
crash,
test flight
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7 Comments
Add CommentGot the good and bad news mixed up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOops. We made this thing, but it went bonk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's why it's called a test landing, genius (read: to work out the flaws). The good news: NASA is smart enough to conduct test landings with unmanned mock-ups. The bad news: Some people make fun of solid experimental science, and call it science.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI still think it's funny that private industry put what amounts to a Piper Cub into space using a fuel composed mainly of recycled rubber tires, and, that the same folks are going to put paying passengers in space at a fraction of the cost of the Russian program. Just as a platypus is a mammal designed by committee; might Orion and other NASA (read government) projects be too much the same? This is one area where private industry is probably better suited at least in the long run to do this sort of thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAny landing you can crawl away from ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJim, Yes the private company flew a spacecraft into space, but they did not come close to achieving orbit. The Scaled Composites SpaceShip One traveled a top speed of about 2,200 mph, but an orbital craft like Space Shuttle must achieve 18,000 mph in order to achieve orbit. The Orion vehicle returning from the moon will enter the atmosphere at 25,000 mph. Private industry have been trying for over a decade to develop a launch vehicle to send a craft to orbit, with only a few small successes and many hard failures. I'm sure industry will make it work, but don't be too quick to belittle NASA's incredible achievements by making apples-to-oranges comparisons.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo work out the flaw? Hell, didn't we do this in the 60's
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this