First Orion Pad Abort Test Is Nominal
By Frank Morring, Jr.
NASA tested the pad abort system for the Orion crew exploration vehicle May 6, demonstrating that the solid-fuel system could pull the U.S. capsule off a failing launch vehicle, maintain its attitude and stabilize it with a thrust-vector control system, and then jettison the escape tower and parachute the capsule back to the ground in one piece.
The one-minute, 35-second test at White Sands Missile ...
