So that's actual flight hardware and not a test article?
Hmmm. Do we not have the technology to cast the pressure shell rather than weld it?
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. -- Conducting an individual test can be an unbelievably complicated undertaking, particularly when dealing with an expensive one-of-a-kind system. Late June's test of the parachutes destined for use aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft is a case in point, for it involved a vast number of complex moving parts that had to mesh together in a precise, carefully planned and thought-out manner.These included several aircraft flying out of Edwards Air Force Base, California, additional aircraft from Laguna Army Airfield, ground tracking stations at several points at Yuma Proving Ground, and an exceptionally wide variety, dozens, of technical experts.The parachute system for Orion is a complex system of its own, composed of 11 different parachutes which operate to slow down the spacecraft and bring it to a safe earth landing. The system's three primary parachutes are made of tough nylon and are the size of football fields.Though NASA has conducted 17 previous parachute drops at the proving ground, planners say each deployment is slightly different."The parachutes are packed under thousands of pounds of pressure. It takes over a week to pack a main parachute," said Koki Nachin, NASA chief engineer for the capsule parachute assembly system. "In the final qualification phase, which we are in now, we will demonstrate that the parachute system works as expected within the predicted range of performance."According to Nachin, NASA plans for an unmanned Orion mission to go into lunar orbit in 2018, with the first astronaut flight occurring in 2022.Ellen Ochoa, former astronaut and current director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, was on hand to witness what was to be the eighteenth drop at Yuma Proving Ground, but it was ultimately aborted due to an oxygen system problem aboard the C-17 aircraft carrying the parachutes and payload. ...
GAO Orion Report just out:http://gao.gov/products/GAO-16-620
The capsule is over budget and may need seven more years before flying crews.