NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Keith Henry and Emily Outen

NASA Langley has begun the journey back to the moon with a step toward the future -- the completion of hardware that will be used in the first flight test of the astronaut escape system for NASA's next generation of spacecraft.

The flight, which will reach an altitude of about one mile, will be critical to demonstrating how NASA intends to build safety into Orion, the new crew exploration vehicle.

That’s why engineers and technicians at Langley took care to fabricate the first flight test article with extreme precision. Langley had the responsibility to lead the design, development, test and evaluation of the simulated crew module.

“In order to test the Launch Abort System, we need to have a mass simulator with an accurate shape for the crew module,” said Todd Denkins, deputy manager for the Orion Project Office at NASA Langley Research Center. “Langley is designing and developing the crew module structure in-house."

The simulated crew module precisely represents the size, outer shape and mass characteristics of the space capsule being designed for transport of astronauts to the International Space Station by 2015 and to the moon in the 2020 timeframe as part of NASA's Constellation Program.

Image above: Phil Brown, project manager for the Langley's Orion flight test article project, explains aspects of PA-1 to a group of media who attended the flight test article media day on March 12. Credit: Sean Smith.

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It is the first of three that Langley is building.

"It's an important first step in the program," said Rick Gilbrech, the NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems and Mission Directorate. "To me, this first flight test … is invaluable."

Gilbrech was on hand Wednesday for a media gathering at the Hangar to announce the module's rollout.

"Langley has a lot of key roles in Exploration for us," he told the media.

Fabrication of this critical hardware required the teamwork and creativity of many NASA scientists, engineers and technicians.

"Within the Langley effort, we have a large engineering and fabrication team supporting development of the flight test article we are delivering," said Phil Brown, project manager for the Langley's Orion flight test article project. "We have approximately 30 engineering folks supporting the design and development, and we have the fabrication team of well over 60 individuals."

Specific teams on the project include management; design; integration, test and verification; fabrication and assembly; modeling and analysis; transportation and logistics; and safety and mission assurance.

The simulated crew module was completed in February and is undergoing verification testing.

After testing is complete, the next step is to ship the crew module to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California, where it will be prepared for the Pad Abort-1 (PA-1) flight test at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

"Once we send the structure to Dryden, they will outfit it with the smarts -- the computers, the electronics, the instrumentation -- all the systems that need to work in conjunction with the structure," said Brown. "Dryden will then send the completed crew module out to White Sands."

The PA-1 test will include the mock-up of the Orion capsule on the launch pad. During the test sequence, an abort motor will fire for several seconds, sending the crew module mock-up to an altitude of one mile. Three 116-foot-diameter parachutes will deploy to slow the module for landing.

Scheduled for late this year, the flight test is the first in a series of unmanned abort tests that will take place at White Sands Missile Range.

The test series will ensure that Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS) can execute a safe, reliable method of escape in case of an emergency on the launch pad or during the climb to Earth orbit. Orion is set to carry up to four crewmembers to lunar orbit, support landing on the surface and return its crew safely to Earth.

Key members of the Orion Flight Test Article Team include the following people, according to project manager Phillip Brown:

Pamela Davis, deputy manager

Debbie Martinez, technical deputy

Robert Dillman, project lead engineer

Jeff Antol, systems engineer

Linda Moore, program analyst

Tara Tveten, schedule analyst

Robert Parker, mechanical/structural design team lead

John DiNonno, crew module primary structure subsystem engineer

Andrea Legreid, ground support equipment structure subsystem engineer

Amanda Cutright, mass properties engineering lead

Scott Belbin, integration, test and verification manager

David Covington, integration, test and verification engineer

Rick Hopson, manufacturing lead

Ed Nemie, assembly engineering

Kevin Roscoe, modeling and analysis lead

Bruce Wolff, FTA transportation lead

Norman Willey, fabrication and assembly quality assurance lead

Brian Saulman, forward bay structure subsystem engineer

Chris Little, separation ring subsystem engineer

Shawn Krizan, launch abort system Pathfinder structure subsystem engineer

Kenny Walters, crew module lead technician

Dan Carey, separation ring lead technician

Kenny Deyerle, launch abort system Pathfinder lead technician

Richard Mason, GSE lead technician

Ralph Dooley, FTA transportation technician

Elijah Kent, product assurance planning

FTA and GSE Design Team members Lisa Hawks, Charles Wittkopp, Kevin Laferiere,Wendy Johnson, Bennet Yeung

FTA and GSE Analysis Team members Kevin O'Neal, Crystal Fenn, Raymond Atherly, Brian Dow, Joe Hartman, Joe Gasbarre, Joel Hartman, Bethany Schiller and Robert Wagner.

To learn more about the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/orion

To read a related Orion article, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/orion-fta.html



NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Adams