Roller Coaster Escape System
Using the design from roller coaster amusement parks, NASA officials announced that a roller coaster type escape system may be built to quickly drive astronauts off the launch pad during the new Orion/Ares I space missions.
The next generation spacecraft for the U.S. manned space program is called Orion. The Orion fleet will replace the Space Shuttles in 2015, after the Shuttle fleet (Atlantis, Endeavour, and Discovery) is retired in 2010. The launch pad for the Ares I rocket, which will power the Orion spacecraft to orbit, will be from Launch Complex 39B. Read more
