The launch abort vehicle stands ready for launch at the Orion Abort Flight Test Launch Complex 32E. Credit: U.S. Army White Sands Test Facility.
LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESS RELEASE
The Orion crew exploration vehicle has successfully completed the Phase 1 Safety Review of NASA’s Human Rating Requirements for space exploration in low Earth orbit and beyond. The NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion team earned the approval from NASA’s Constellation Safety & Engineering Review Panel (CSERP) upon completion of the review, an essential requirement for the Orion program to move forward to the Critical Design Review and Phase 2 Safety Review.
The safety review process is a rigorous and exhaustive look at the design and operational concepts to assure that all requirements have been adequately met. System safety requirements address potentially catastrophic failures that could result in loss of crew or loss of mission during launch, ascent to orbit, approach and docking to the International Space Station, re-entry, landing, and recovery operations. Thoroughly reviewing spacecraft designs and operations for possible causes of such catastrophic failures, and designing appropriate mitigations for them, is a critical part of NASA’s human rating program.
“Completing this significant safety review puts Orion well down the road in satisfying the requirements to minimize the nation’s gap in human space flight,†said Paul Benfield, Lockheed Martin Integrated Reliability & Safety Manager for the Orion Program. “NASA’s current human rating standards include stringent requirements and thorough procedures developed from the best practices of NASA’s past 50 years of human spaceflight.â€
