Early Orion Test Fails

Last July 31, an early test of the parachute system that will float the new Orion spacecraft to a safe return to Earth failed, sending a mock-up of the Orion capsule crashing to the surface.

Instead of landing on a runway, like the space shuttle, Orion will come down under parachutes, like Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. That decision was budget driven. Orion will likely usually splashdown, but NASA is looking at the possibility of coming down on land, as Soviet/Russian capsules have always done.

One parachute in a ten parachute system failed in the test. Such failures early on are not uncommon in any technology development program. NASA has until 2014 to get that worked out.