Major Props! Orion Propulsion Test in New Mexico a Success

On Aug 5, engineers at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico, tested the Orion spacecraft’s service module with a ground-based firing of its propulsion and pressurization systems. The 12-minute firing simulated an abort-to-orbit scenario – in which the system would fire long enough to place Orion in a safe, temporary orbit in the event of an issue setting Orion in the precise trajectory required to get to the Moon. That temporary orbit would allow time to evaluate the crew and space