Orion Parachutes Are Put to the Test [Video]

A test model of the Orion spacecraft touched down safely on Wednesday, after being dropped from 35,000 off the ground. NASA's redesigned parachute system performed flawlessly, according to the agency.

The Orion model effortlessly floated back down to the United States Army Yuma Proving Grounds today after the spacecraft's parachute system was tested at harrying heights for the first time ever.

"We've put the parachutes through their paces in ground and airdrop testing in just about every conceivable way before we begin sending them into space on Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 before the year's done," said Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer in a statement. "The series of tests has proven the system and will help ensure crew and mission safety for our astronauts in the future."

Of course, this certainly isn't the final gauntlet for the Orion landing parachutes. The first true test of Orion will occur later this December, during EFT-1, and two drogue parachutes and three massive main parachutes - which could nearly cover an entire football field - will be expected to slow the craft to a mere 20 miles-per-hour (mph) after it reenters the atmosphere at up to 20,000 mph.

"Each parachute must deploy at the exact right time, open to the exact right percentages in the exact right stages, and be cut away exactly as planned," NASA explained in a previous press release. Otherwise the Orion - and its manned crew during the true Orion mission - would most-certainly not survive its final splashdown into the Pacific Ocean.

The team also wants the chute system prepared for anything. In this latest test, engineers rigged one of the main parachutes to skip the second phase of a three stage unfurling process, testing to see if the massive system could withstand the stress of unexpectedly and fully catching air.

According to NASA, the test went off without a hitch.

[Credit: NASA]