Orion Parachute Test - Dec. 2017

Engineers successfully evaluated a failure scenario of Orion’s parachute system in which only two of the system’s three orange and white main parachutes deploy after several other parachutes in the system used to slow and stabilize Orion endure high aerodynamic stresses ahead of a safe landing. The test occurred Dec. 15, 2017 at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. A mock capsule was dropped from a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet in altitude to enable the right conditions for the test. It was the fifth of eight tests to qualify Orion’s parachute system for flights with astronauts beginning with Artemis II.