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Orion abort motor test said a success
By MARY ALYS CHERRY
Flames shot more than 100 feet high in a successful 5.5-second ground test firing of a launch abort motor for NASA’s next generation spacecraft, the Orion crew exploration vehicle.
NASA and the Orion team — Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) — conducted the test at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah, on Nov. 20 — the 10th anniversary of the launch of the International Space Station.
“This milestone brings the Constellation Program one step closer to completion of the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the space station in 2015 and return humans to the moon by 2020, said Mark Geyer, Orion project manager at the Johnson Space Center.
“The . . . system must be ready to operate in many different environmental conditions and tests such as this one are critical to assure this safety feature will protect our astronauts.”
Besides replacing the shuttle, the Orion will provide a tremendous improvement in spaceflight safety for astronauts, Lockheed spokesman Linda Singleton said.
This inaugural test of Orion’s full-scale abort motor marks the first time such a test has been conducted since the Apollo Program tested its launch escape system in the 1960s, she said.
The test firing was the culmination of a series of motor and component tests conducted this year in preparation for the next major milestone, a test in the spring with a full-size mock-up of the Orion crew capsule, the Orion team said.
The abort motor stands more than 17 feet tall and is three feet in diameter.
Lockheed is the prime contractor for Orion with ATK as the subcontractor responsible for the launch abort motor.
NASA and the Orion team — Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) — conducted the test at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah, on Nov. 20 — the 10th anniversary of the launch of the International Space Station.
“This milestone brings the Constellation Program one step closer to completion of the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the space station in 2015 and return humans to the moon by 2020, said Mark Geyer, Orion project manager at the Johnson Space Center.
“The . . . system must be ready to operate in many different environmental conditions and tests such as this one are critical to assure this safety feature will protect our astronauts.”
Besides replacing the shuttle, the Orion will provide a tremendous improvement in spaceflight safety for astronauts, Lockheed spokesman Linda Singleton said.
This inaugural test of Orion’s full-scale abort motor marks the first time such a test has been conducted since the Apollo Program tested its launch escape system in the 1960s, she said.
The test firing was the culmination of a series of motor and component tests conducted this year in preparation for the next major milestone, a test in the spring with a full-size mock-up of the Orion crew capsule, the Orion team said.
The abort motor stands more than 17 feet tall and is three feet in diameter.
Lockheed is the prime contractor for Orion with ATK as the subcontractor responsible for the launch abort motor.
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