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Snapshot
July 08, 2009
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The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) for NASA's next generation space capsule was successfully demonstrated at the space agency's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, July 8, 2009, at 6:26 a.m. The unpiloted launch tested an alternate concept for safely propelling a future spacecraft and its crew away from an emergency on the launch pad or during ascent to orbit—the 33-foot high MLAS rose about a mile to simulate an abort from the pad. The MLAS consists of four solid rocket motors inside a bullet-shaped composite fairing attached to a full-scale mockup of the crew module, which separated from the launch vehicle about seven seconds into the flight and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean. For a good video of the launch, click here.
