NASA Launch Abort System
NASA's Escape Pod
NASA's Escape Pod
nasa.gov
The biggest stride NASA has taken toward getting its next-generation space-travel program, Constellation, in the air has been this year’s successful motor test of the Launch Abort System, which will fire in an emergency and yank the crew capsule up and away from the main rocket below.
The system will blow through 4,700 pounds of propellant in just three seconds, using attitude-control nozzles to keep the capsule upright as it blasts away from a failing rocket at more than 6,000 mph. The capsule and its crew will then descend gently back to Earth using a series of parachutes.
