SpaceX’s Crew Dragon fired its eight SuperDraco engines in unison at 9 a.m. EDT and leapt off a specially built platform at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on May 6, 2015. The engines fired for about six seconds, instantly producing about 15,000 pounds of thrust each and lifting the spacecraft out over the Atlantic Ocean before jettisoning its trunk as planned and parachuting safely into the water. SpaceX controllers will pore over the telemetry and other data recorded during the flight test to evaluate the launch abort system and SuperDraco engines. NASA's Commercial Crew Program experts also will help evaluate the results as the development of one of the new generation of American spacecraft continues on pace.
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NASA ID
KSC-20150506-VP_DNG01_0001-SpaceX_Commercial_Crew_Pad_Abort_Test
Date Created
May 6, 2015
Center
KSC
Media Type
video
Photographer
NASA Dimitri Gerondidakis
Location
Space Launch Complex 40, CCAFS
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