418th FLTS completes 10-year support of NASA Orion parachute tests

For a decade the 418th Flight Test Squadron has supported NASA by supplying C-17 Globemaster IIIs and personnel to assist with the testing and qualifying of the Orion spacecraft’s parachute system. That support ended Sept. 12 with the success of the final parachute system test over the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

The NASA Orion test capsule sits on a K-loader about to be lifted into the C-17 Globemaster III on loan from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, Sept. 10, 2018. The mock capsule was later pulled out the back of the cargo plane Sept. 12 for its final parachute system test over the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. (U.S. Air Force photo by Kyle Larson)