Pad abort test

A pad abort test is a test of a launch escape system to determine how well the system could get the crew of a spacecraft to safety in an emergency on the launch pad.

Mercury pad abort test.

Project Mercury

Section sources.[1][2]

The Mercury program included several pad abort tests for the launch escape system with a boilerplate crew module.

Project Apollo

Apollo Pad Abort Test 2

The Apollo program included several pad abort tests for the launch escape system with a boilerplate crew module.

Both tests were conducted at the White Sands Missile Range.

Orion

Artist's concept of an Orion pad abort test.

The Orion Pad Abort Test will start with the construction of the first Orion Boilerplate. It will be a basic mockup prototype to test the assembling sequences and launch procedures at NASA’s Langley Research Center while Lockheed aerospace engineers assemble the first rocket motors for the spacecraft’s escape tower. Lockheed Martin Corp. was awarded the contract to build Orion on Aug. 31, 2006. The first Pad Abort Test trial of the escape tower system was successfully completed at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range on May 6th, 2010.[3]

[4]

Dragon V2

See also

References

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