If a parade of space parachutes popping open is your thing, SpaceX has you covered. The company — which is developing a Crew Dragon spacecraft to bring astronauts to the International Space Station — recently released a YouTube video showing a series of successful parachute tests for its spacecraft.
The compilation shows the spacecraft being dropped from anywhere between 8,000 to 50,000 feet (roughly 2,400 to 15,000 meters) using a helicopter, a high-altitude balloon or the back door of a cargo plane. In various high-definition shots, the spacecraft falls through the air, is stabilized by a drogue parachute or two, and then the main parachutes pop open.
Cameras mounted on Crew Dragon show the performance of the three or four main parachutes as the spacecraft drifts to desert ground or — in one case — water. The spacecraft needs to pass a series of qualification tests before NASA and other authorities deem it safe enough to fly astronauts.
"More than 25 successful tests have been completed to demonstrate performance in various deployment conditions," SpaceX saidin the video. (The company did not mention a failed parachute test in April. Both SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner have experienced parachute issues while preparing for commercial flights.)
While the SpaceX video focused on parachute deployment, SpaceX is pursuing many other tests to pursue its human-rating qualification for the Crew Dragon. One of these trials was putting an uncrewed spacecraft in space. The first Crew Dragon launched successfully on March 2 and later berthed with the International Space Station. Boeing's spacecraft will do a space test of its own later this year, if all goes to plan. Launches of astronauts on both spacecraft may follow late this year, or in 2020.
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