NASA tests launch-abort system for moon-mission capsule

WASHINGTON: NASA carried out a successful test Tuesday of a launch abort system for a capsule designed to take US astronauts to the moon. The test was carried out at Cape Canaveral in Florida and carried live on NASA TV. The exercise aimed to test in almost real-life conditions the evacuation of astronauts from the Orion capsule in the event of an explosion or other problem shortly after launch of the rocket taking them into space. This is the US equivalent of an emergency system used last October to bring a Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut safely back to earth when a problem emerged with their Soyuz rocket shortly after liftoff from Kazakhstan.