On July 31, 2008 NASA crashed a mock-up of an Orion space capsule when a parachute failed.

The parachute system, which would be used to slow the Orion capsule to a soft touch down in the event of a launch abort, was tested by dropping the capsule out of the back of a C-17. In the test, a number of "set-up" parachutes are deployed. Some are used to pull the pallet out of the plane. Then the capsule is pyrotechnically separated from the pallet, which has its own parachute recovery system. The capsule then has a "programmer" parachute and two stabilizer parachutes that are used to set up the test configuration. It was this programmer chute that failed to inflate properly causing the capsule to fall much faster then planned. All this happened before the Orion parachute test could even begin.

When the programmer and stabilizer parachutes released, you could see the capsule’s own drogue parachute deploy and then be immediately ripped away, sending the mock capsule into free fall. The forces deployed the main parachutes. Only one of the three main chutes held, but never inflated. The result was a landing that "severely damaged the mock-up."

One of the objectives of the drop test was to demonstrate the test procedure. NASA engineers and managers are currently reviewing the test set-up, video and photos to determine what caused the programmer parachute to fail.

NASA Tests Launch Abort Parachute System – Releases Crash Photos [SpaceRef]

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Image courtesy NASA