|
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - The aluminum and steel cone-shaped object with a pair of white fuzzy dice hanging from an interior beam is the same size and shape of a spacecraft being designed to take astronauts to the international space station and then to the moon. But this mock-up of the Orion crew vehicle is headed for the New Mexico desert.
NASA's Langley Research Center on Wednesday showed off the simulated capsule, which will be used in the first in a series of tests of the ability of Orion's launch-abort system to whisk the astronauts and capsule to safety in case of a problem on the launch pad, such as a fire, or during the climb to orbit.
The test will be conducted in December, without anyone inside the simulated capsule, at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
|