At the Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia, one of the modules of the new Orion spacecraft was tested. This ship is an unusual 25 tons of metal and electronics, and the newest means of carrying out manned missions in space.
NASA is going to use it in the very near future, for a start, the crew is going to be sent to the moon, and then they will be used to study asteroids. The most ambitious challenge facing Orion's design team, however, is the first human flight to Mars, scheduled for 2020.
The Norfolk tests are by no means the first to which the designers have subjected the spacecraft, this time they tested the module in which the astronauts will be located. Scientists from NASA have designed a situation in which a module with a crew lands in the Atlantic Ocean, during this test, the process of picking up and evacuating the lander was tested.
During these experiments, the specialists also evaluated how the parachute system works, which should ensure a smooth landing of the capsule. It should be noted that the Orion is equipped with eight parachutes. NASA says that even if some of the parachutes fail, the crew members will still be able to land safely
