NASA tests abort system for the Orion spacecraft that will carry humans to the moon in 2024

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

NASA tests abort system for the Orion spacecraft that will carry humans to the moon in 2024

By Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated 1520 GMT (2320 HKT) July 2, 2019

(CNN) — NASA's Orion spacecraft, which will carry the first woman and the next man to the moon in 2024, was successfully tested Tuesday.

Weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center in Florida were perfect for the launch to conduct the flight test, called Ascent Abort-2. The "stack" -- the parts comprising the rocket, abort system and capsule -- that launched is about 93 feet tall.

A test version of the Orion crew capsule launched at the beginning of a four-hour window that opened at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday. No crew was aboard.

"It was a very smooth liftoff," said Mark Kirasich, Orion program manager. "By all first accounts, it was magnificent." The abort system performed as expected. The next time the abort system is used, astronauts will be on board.

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