September 18, 2018 / Modified sep 18, 2018 8:44 a.m.

NASA Mission Passes Key Milestone With Yuma Parachute Test

The agency can now give the Orion parachute system the go-ahead for flights with astronauts.

Orion Parachute Test Touching down during a Sept. 12 parachute test for the Orion spacecraft at the Yuma Proving Grounds.
NASA

PHOENIX — The U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground last week saw NASA pass a key milestone in its plans for human spaceflight. After a decade of tests, eight of them in Yuma, NASA can now approve the Orion spacecraft’s parachute system for flights with astronauts.

Like the Apollo capsules that carried astronauts to the moon, the Orion will rely on chutes to slow its descent before splashdown in the Pacific. But the resemblance stops there: The much larger and heavier Orion uses an intricate system of 11 chutes and 30 miles of Kevlar lines, assembled via a timed sequence of fuses firing, blades cutting and parachutes unfurling into 12,000 square feet of canopy.

Orion’s maiden, unpiloted flight is slated for late 2019 or early 2020, with a piloted mission to follow within three years, although high costs and political wrangling still plague the program.

Arizona Science Desk
This story is from the Arizona Science Desk, a collaborative of the state's public radio stations, including NPR 89.1. Read more from the Arizona Science Desk.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona