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NASA Langley Research Center/YouTube
smash
Watch NASA deliberately crash a load of spaceships*
*As well as a number of aircrafts for good measure.
BEFORE ANY MISSION takes place, NASA conducts a vast number of tests to prepare it for any eventuality.
Part of this involves testing its spacecrafts (and other vehicles) to see if they’ll survive a crash, and it has amassed a lot of footage since then.
The video, which was captured at NASA’s Landing Impact and Research Facility, shows a montage of different crash tests from the facility’s 50-year history.
Originally built in 1965 to test the lunar landing module, the facility includes a 240-foot metal gantry which drops aircrafts and spacecrafts onto dirt or a deep pool, either a straight drop or from an angle to help simulate different crashes.
So you will see footage like this…
And this…
And a bit of this.
While it’s fun to watch, it gives a snapshot into the amount of work that’s required, not only when designing the crafts themselves but creating the conditions needed to properly test them.
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