Gallery: Ascent Abort 2 paves way for Artemis lunar program
NASA and Northrop Grumman successfully completed the Ascent Abort 2 test on Tuesday, July 2, 2019 at 7 a.m. EDT (11:00 GMT). Photo Credit: Mike Howard / SpaceFlight Insider
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — During a test that lasted about three-minutes, called Ascent Abort-2, a test article of the Orion spacecraft was launched at 7 a.m. EDT (11:00 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 46 in Florida. A modified Northrop Grumman Peacekeeper missile procured through the U.S. Air Force was used to help demonstrate that the capsule’s crew abort system would perform as designed in the event of an emergency encountered on ascent.
“The test flight performed perfectly, not to mention it was really exciting to watch,” said Mike Hawes, Orion program manager for Lockheed Martin Space via a company-issued release. “Hopefully this will be the last time we see this launch abort system ever work, but this test brings confidence that if needed on future Orion missions, it will safely pull the crew module and astronauts away from a life threatening event during launch.”
The following photos were taken by SpaceFlight Insider’s visual team and are courtesy of Mike Howard and Scott Schilke. If you enjoy our coverage and are able, consider supporting us on Patreon to help in our efforts to to bring you fantastic content about the space industry!
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