Appearing like round, red-and-white candy stripes against an azure sky, four parachutes designed for a very special purpose successfully unfolded high above the Arizona desert.
These red-and-white parachutes are part of the system that will be used to safely land astronauts aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station.
SpaceX tested the parachutes using a mass simulator. The weight of the spacecraft was connected to the parachute system, dragging it down.
The four main parachutes and the mass simulator were released thousands of feet above the ground from a C-130 cargo aircraft, but the drogue chutes involved in a full landing system were not tested.
SpaceX continues to perform tests like this one as part of its final development and certification work with NASA's Commercial Crew program.
In these tests, engineers assess the reliability of flight-like hardware. Later tests will include more realistic simulations of the actual conditions and processes that occur during an operational mission.
NASA has contracted SpaceX to make cargo runs to and from the ISS since 2012. Despite the Falcon 9 rocket's failed launch and explosion in June last year, the contract between the two is going well.
NASA plans to use SpaceX and Boeing to send astronauts to and from the ISS in the next years. For this purpose, SpaceX is building its Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Before they can make that happen, though, SpaceX has yet to overcome several long-term hurls and do well on milestone tests. The parachute test is one milestone off its checklist.
Although the test rig descended somewhere on the Arizona desert, the actual plan is to have the future Dragon crew capsule splash down in the ocean.
This will be the first time since the late 1970s that astronauts will land on water. These missions are slated for late 2017 or early 2018.
While SpaceX is testing for its parachute-assisted landing, the company is also simultaneously testing propulsive landings.
SpaceX published a video of its Crew Dragon spacecraft hovering in place by means of the eight built-in SuperDraco rocket engines. The company's goal is to utilize these engines to safely lower crews on landing pads despite NASA's goals. The parachutes will be saved for emergencies only.
