Nasa’s Orion clears tough parachute test

MUMBAI: Nasa’s human spaceflight programme crossed an important milestone on Wednesday when it completed the most complex and flight-like test of the parachute system for the agency’s Orion spacecraft which will fly astronauts to the moon, asteroids and Mars, according to Nasa.
A test version of Orion touched down safely in the Arizona desert after being pulled out of a C-17 aircraft, 35,000 feet above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground.It was the first time parachutes in the system had been tested at such a high altitude. Engineers put additional stresses on the parachutes by allowing the test version of Orion to free fall for 10 seconds, which increased the vehicle’s speed and aerodynamic pressure.
“We’ve put the parachutes through their paces in ground and airdrop testing in every conceivable way before we send them into space on Exploration Flight Test-1 before the year’s done,” Orion programme manager Mark Geyer said.