Private US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX has reported a problem during one of final parachute tests for its Crew Dragon spacecraft, noting that it was related to the test setup and not the parachute system itself
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2020) Private US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX has reported a problem during one of final parachute tests for its Crew Dragon spacecraft, noting that it was related to the test setup and not the parachute system itself.
In a statement, SpaceX said that during a planned parachute drop test on Tuesday, the test article which is usually a mockup of the spacecraft that was suspended underneath the helicopter "became unstable."
"Out of an abundance of caution and to keep the helicopter crew safe, the pilot pulled the emergency release. As the helicopter was not yet at target conditions, the test article was not armed, and as such, the parachute system did not initiate the parachute deployment sequence. While the test article was lost, this was not a failure of the parachute system and most importantly no one was injured," the statement said, as quoted by the SpaceRef news website.
SpaceX has announced that Crew Dragon is expected to perform its first manned flight with two NASA astronauts on board in May. It is also set to become the first crewed orbital flight from US soil since the retirement of the country's Space Shuttle program in 2011. Currently, US astronauts travel to the International Space Station on board Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.
