NEW YORK: At 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, if weather cooperates and all systems are “go,” a prototype Dragon capsule will fire eight SuperDraco engines to launch from a stand at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, testing a system critical to the safety of astronauts who might climb on board by 2017.
If all goes well, the six-second engine firing, producing 120,000 pounds of thrust, will rocket the capsule up about 5,000 feet, simulating how it would push astronauts from harm’s way if a Falcon 9 rocket were in danger of exploding on the launch pad below.
After reaching a peak speed of roughly 350 mph and acceleration in excess of 4 Gs, the capsule’s “trunk” will jettison and drogue and main parachutes will deploy to drop the vehicle and a test dummy to a gentle splashdown a mile from Launch Complex 40, where boats will recover it.
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