Nasa’s Orion spacecraft prepares for key safety test as it rushes to meet Donald Trump’s moon mandate
- Space agency is expected to test the emergency abort system on its new spacecraft which it hopes will take astronauts to the moon
Usually, the most dramatic part of human space travel is lift-off. A controlled explosion of massive amounts of propellant, blasting a rocket off the ground on a pillow of fire and smoke.
But that was not the most dramatic part of Nasa astronaut Nick Hague’s first launch. Rather, it came about two minutes later.
The abort on was “a good message to all of us: this is serious stuff”, said Nasa astronaut Randy Bresnik. “We have to prepare for this even though there’s a low likelihood of it happening.”
On Tuesday, Nasa is expected to test the emergency abort system of its new spacecraft, the Orion crew capsule. If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft will blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a rocket motor to about 9,450 metres (31,000 feet), where its abort system will fire and thrusters propel the capsule away.