Will Undergo Landing Tests Under A Variety Of Ocean Conditions

A full-sized test version of the Orion crew module recently arrived at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA for testing that will examine how it performs under a variety of ocean landing conditions.

In the coming months, NASA researchers will conduct static and water impact loads evaluations on it at Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility. The tests will simulate water landing scenarios for different velocities, parachute deployments, wave heights and wind conditions the spacecraft may encounter when it lands in the Pacific Ocean.

Orion's first trip to space will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft 3,600 miles above Earth before reentering the atmosphere at a speed of approximately 20,000 mph and temperatures of close to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Prior to its arrival at Langley, the Orion test capsule was used for pathfinding operations, including simulated manufacturing, assembling and stacking procedures at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin, which built the Orion mockup, collaborated with NASA to complete a series of acoustic, modal and vibration tests on the test capsule that simulated launch and in-space conditions.

(Image provided by NASA)

FMI: www.nasa.gov/orion