The fourth and final water impact test of the Orion Structural Test Article was successfully completed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Unlike the first three tests where the crew module was dropped straight down from increasing heights, this one was pulled back 135 feet and up 80 feet, swung, then dropped into the hydro impact basin at 41 miles per hour.
Data from the test series will be used to verify structural design and requirements before Artemis II, NASA’s first Artemis mission with crew. Now that testing is complete, the crew module will be wrapped and returned to Lockheed Martin’s facility in Colorado.