Orion

A model of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is poised to be dropped from a C-17 airplane 25,000 feet above the Arizona dessert to test its parachute system. Two drogue parachutes and three main parachutes will be used to slow the Orion capsule from about 350 miles per hour when the parachutes open, down to 18 miles per hour when it lands in the Pacific Ocean on its first flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1, next year. It will be returning from 3,600 miles above the Earth – 15 times higher than the International Space Station’s orbit.