NASA’s Orion spacecraft has achieved a new milestone with a successful final test of the vehicle’s attitude-control motor (ACM) Tuesday (Feb. 25).
Orion is designed to carry astronauts to the moon for NASA’s planned 2024 Artemis mission. The ACM steers and orients Orion’s launch-abort system, which would carry the crew to safety in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent.
The ACM was built by Northrop Grumman and was tested at the company’s facility in Maryland. The 30-second hot fire was the third and final test of the motor, qualifying the motor for human missions. Those flights will start with Artemis II, the first planned crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft, according to a statement from NASA.
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