Test Range To Evaluate Safety System For Astronauts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced November 8, it will break ground to build a test launch pad at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range this week.

The pad will be used to test a launch abort system that will help ensure the safety of astronauts aboard the new Orion spacecraft, according to NASA officials. The White Sands Missile Range -- formerly called the White Sands Proving Grounds -- is located between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, N.M.

Engineers will use the test results to help design Orion's launch safety abort system, NASA said. Orion will be part of the agency's Constellation Program, designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon and perhaps beyond.

The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, with the first of five planned abort tests to be performed at the test pad early next fall. Two of the tests will measure the performance of the launch abort system at ground level and three additional tests will evaluate its performance at various altitudes.

White Sands Missle Range covers an area about three times the size of Rhode Island, making it the largest military reservation in the United States.

FMI: www.wsmr.army.mil/