NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

PA-1 boilerplate crew module undergoing center of gravity testing. (NASA photo).
› View Larger Image Dryden’s expertise in atmospheric flight research and test provides significant progress toward the fulfillment of US space exploration. NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), part of the Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the moon, will use a Launch Abort System (LAS) designed to propel the Crew Module (CM) and its crew safely from a launch pad or in-flight emergency.

As part of the Orion Abort Flight Test Project, Dryden’s team will flight test the prototype and production LAS, CM, and Service Module (SM) separation elements for safe abort characteristics and verify that the system meets performance requirements during a stationary pad-abort and various ascent-abort scenarios under boost. The heritage of the Mercury and Apollo programs, in which similar systems were used, combined with CEV design validation requirements, will be used to define LAS testing requirements for the Orion project.

The Dryden Flight Research Center has the following responsibilities:

• Instrumentation of the abort flight test systems
• Integration and test of flight controls systems and parachutes
• Mobile launch control room
• Preflight ground testing
• Launch facility construction
• Ground safety and quality control
• Independent simulation analysis

Points of Contact

Brent Cobleigh
Exploration Mission Director
(661) 276-2249
Brent.R.Cobleigh@nasa.gov

John W. Kelly
Deputy Mission Director for Exploration (acting)
(661) 276-2308
john.w.kelly@nasa.gov

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