How do you test a space capsule before sending it into orbit? Drop it out of an airplane over six miles above the Earth and sabotage its parachute.

NASA is toiling away on its next manned spacecraft designed for missions beyond Earth's orbit. The Orion capsule was dropped from an airplane at 35,000 feet, and once the three main parachutes were deployed, one was purposely cut away to simulate a failure to see how the spacecraft would fare during a faster than normal impact with the ground.

The test was the first time NASA deployed the parachutes at an altitude higher than they were designed, giving engineers a realistic look at how Orion may behave during its return from space. And the drop on to the Arizona desert went exactly as planned.

"What we saw today – other than the failures we put in on purpose," said Orion project manager Chris Johnson in a statement from NASA, "is very similar to what Orion will look like coming back during Exploration Flight Test-1's Earth entry next year."

This is the second time Orion has landed with just two parachutes, but the first time was by design – it only had two to begin with. Engineers wanted to see what would happen if one had to be cutaway, whether or not other failures would occur from a cable being snagged or cut. NASA also continues testing of the rocket that will carry the Orion, including its massive motors.

With room for two to six people, the first space flight for Orion is scheduled for fall of 2014. But that flight will be unmanned and take Orion into a very high orbit, more than 3,000 miles higher than the International Space Station. The spacecraft will then return to earth with a similar amount of energy (20,000 mph) as it will when it takes astronauts to lunar orbit, or to visit an asteroid sometime in 2020 or beyond.

The spacecraft is the sole focus for NASA's own manned spaceflight plans in the future. The space agency will be contracting out more routine spaceflights to low earth orbit, including the ISS, to private companies. Currently, SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation are all competing for the job.