SpaceX tests spacecraft parachute system near Coolidge, Ariz.
Jan 31, 2016, 12:15 PM
SpaceX completed a successful test of a Crew Dragon parachute system near Coolidge, Ariz., and NASA posted video of the drop on YouTube last week.
The parachutes are to be used on the commercial Crew Dragon spacecraft, which when it passes testing is designed to deliver astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station. Those parachutes will help the crafts land gently in oceans, but SpaceX eventually hopes to land them on land with a set of eight SuperDraco engines.
SpaceX is working with NASA’s Commercial Crew program. Boeing is likewise working on a separate project with NASA with same goal.
The set of four parachutes were released from an AC-130 cargo plane and helped slow the landing of a weight similar to that of a Crew Dragon.
