SpaceX shows off a highlight reel of Crew Dragon parachute tests
There's still no date set for a Demo-2 mission with NASA astronauts onboard.
As SpaceX continues its progress toward a Demo-2 launch of its Crew Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronauts aboard the company put together this reel of parachute tests. According to the tag, "SpaceX is returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States with one of the safest, most advanced systems ever built."
I didn't spot a clip from the failed test in April, but that's part of the reason why SpaceX is doing repeated tests from various heights and setups like the one it failed where one of the parachutes was intentionally disabled. It's all to make sure that the system works when it's called upon to provide a safe ocean landing for actual people. Boeing already announced the competing Starliner project has completed a qualification test for its parachute system, although both programs have faced technical issues, like the explosive incident SpaceX recently traced to an oxidizer leak.
