ASCENT

ABORT-2

FLIGHT TEST

The safest spacecraft ever built, NASA’s Orion will carry the first woman and 

next man to land on the Moon by 2024, and enable sustained presence on 

and around the Moon by 2028. An integral part of ensuring safe spaceflight 

is Orion’s Launch Abort System, or LAS. This state-of-the-art crew escape 

system is attached to the top of the spacecraft and can propel the crew 

module away from the rocket within milliseconds should a life-threatening 

event arise during launch. 
1

2

34

56

A crew module 

sized and 

weighted to 

represent Orion 

will launch on 

an abort test 

booster from Cape 

Canaveral Air 

Force Station in 

Florida.

Abort sequence 

initiates 55 seconds 

after launch at 

31,000 feet 

Abort motor fires, 

pulling crew 

module away from 

the launch vehicle 

Attitude control motor 

reorients the LAS to 

safely separate from 

the crew module

Jettison motor 

fires, separating 

the LAS from the 

crew module

Data recorders 

are jettisoned, 

concluding test

In 2019, Orion is scheduled to undergo a 

full-stress test of the LAS, called Ascent 

Abort Test 2 (AA-2), where a booster 

provided by Northrop Grumman will launch 

from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 

Florida, carrying a fully functional LAS and a 

22,000-pound Orion test vehicle to an altitude 

of 31,000 feet at Mach 1.3 (over 1,000 miles 

an hour). At that point, the LAS’ powerful 

reverse-flow abort motor will fire 400,000 

pounds of thrust, propelling the Orion test 

vehicle to a safe distance away from the 

rocket. Timing is crucial as the abort events 

must match the abort timing requirements 

of the Orion spacecraft to the millisecond in 

order for the flight test data to be valid.

NASA is accelerating the timeline of the 

test to provide engineers with critical abort 

test data to validate computer models of the 

spacecraft’s LAS performance and system 

functions in advance of he first crewed fligh 

of Orion and the Space Launch System 

(SLS) rocket. AA-2 provides the only 

opportunity to test a fully active launch abort 

system during ascent before flying crew, so 

verifying that it works as predicted in the 

event of an emergency is a critical step for 

deep space exploration. 

The test will verify the LAS can steer the 

crew module and astronauts inside to safety 

in the event of an issue with the SLS rocket 

when the spacecraft is under the highest 

aerodynamic loads it will experience during 

a rapid climb into space.

Engineers at several NASA centers already are 

building the Orion test article that has many of the 

design features and the same mass as the capsule 

that will carry crew. This test is designed to focus 

on Orion’s launch abort capabilities, and all required 

data will be captured by the data recorders, so the 

crew module used for AA-2 will not deploy parachutes 

after the abort system is jettisoned or fire thrusters to 

orient the capsule for splashdown. A separate test 

series is focused on certifying the parachute system 

in various conditions.

The AA-2 test development and execution is a 

partnership between the Orion Program and the 

Advanced Exploration Systems Division, the 

technology advancement organization in the Human 

Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at 

NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center oversees production 

of the fully assembled and integrated crew module 

and separation ring, including development of unique 

avionics, power, software and data collection subsystems 

and several elements of ground support equipment.

The agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, 

Virginia, is building the primary structure of the crew 

module test article and a separation ring that connects 

the test capsule to the booster and provides space and 

volume for separation mechanisms and instrumentation.

Critical sensors and instruments used to gather data 

during the test will be provided by NASA’s Armstrong 

Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The 

integrated test article will be delivered to NASA’s 

Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be 

processed before launch.

NASA’s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, is 

providing the fully functional Orion LAS, and the crew 

module to service module umbilical and flight design 

retention and release mechanisms. 

The abort and attitude control motors are built by 

Northrop Grumman. The jettison motor, manufactured 

by Aerojet Rocketdyne, is the only LAS motor that will 

be activated on every mission. 
ATTITUDE

CONTROL

MOTOR

JETTISON

MOTOR

ABORT

MOTOR

FAIRING 

ASSEMBLY

LAUNCH ABORT SYSTEM LAUNCH VEHICLE

CREW

MODULE

Inside fairing 

assembly

The LAS is divided into two parts: the fairing assembly, 

which is a shell composed of a lightweight composite 

material that protects the capsule from the heat, 

wind and acoustics of the launch, ascent, and abort 

environments; and the launch abort tower, which 

includes the system’s three motors. In an emergency, 

those three motors – the launch abort, attitude control 

and jettison motors – work together to propel Orion 

away from a problem on the launch pad or during 

SLS’ first stage ascent, steering and re-orienting for 

LAS jettison, and pulling the LAS away from the crew 

module. During a normal launch, only the LAS jettison 

motor will fire, once Orion and the Space Launch 

System clear most of the atmosphere, to separate the 

LAS from Orion and allow the spacecraft to continue 

with its mission.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

In 2010, an earlier version of Orion’s LAS was 

successfully tested to evaluate the performance of 

the system from the launch pad during Pad Abort 

Test-1 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. 

For Artemis 1 – NASA’s first integrated flight test of 

Orion atop the powerful SLS – the abort system will 

not be fully active since astronauts will not be inside 

the spacecraft. 

Pad Abort 

Test-1

Exploration

Flight Test-1

Ascent Abort 

Test-2

Artemis 1 Artemis 2

LAUNCH ABORT TOWER