NASA conducted a full-stress launch abort test Tuesday for the Orion capsules designed to carry astronauts to the moon.

The capsule was empty for the morning demo, which officials said appeared to be successful.

Barely a minute after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the abort motor fired, pulling the capsule from the booster about six miles (10 kilometres) up. The capsule continued upward another two miles (three kilometres), then flipped to jettison the abort tower.

NASA chose not to use parachutes to keep this test version of the capsule simple and thus save time, and so it crashed into the Atlantic at 300 mph (480 kph) as planned, the three-minute test complete. Twelve data recorders popped off in bright orange canisters before impact, for ocean retrieval.

B次元官网网址淏y all accounts, it was magnificent,B次元官网网址� said program manager Mark Kirasich. It will take a few months to go through all the data collected by the hundreds of vehicle sensors, he said.

NASA aims to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024 using its still-in-development Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket. TuesdayB次元官网网址檚 test represents B次元官网网址渁 really great, great step forward today for the team,B次元官网网址� Kirasich said.

This was the second abort test for Orion, conducted at a speed of more than 800 mph (1,300 kph). The first, in New Mexico in 2010, was lower and slower.

A launch abort system on a Russian rocket saved the lives of two astronauts last October. They launched again in December, this time making it to the International Space Station, where theyB次元官网网址檙e still working.

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B次元官网网址淚t had been 35 years since anyone on the planet had had to exercise their launch abort system,B次元官网网址� NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik told reporters Monday. B次元官网网址淭hat was definitely a good message to all of us that, B次元官网网址楬ey, this is serious stuff. This isnB次元官网网址檛 just an OK, it probably wonB次元官网网址檛 happen.B次元官网网址� We need to be ready.B次元官网网址�

The Associated Press

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