On 3 August US company Transformational Space successfully dropped a full-size replica of its four-man, 3,600kg (8,100lb), 4.5m (15ft)-long by 4.27m-wide crew transfer vehicle CXV from a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter at 10,000ft (3,000m). The exercise was designed to test the CXV replica’s triple-parachute descent system and water-entry dynamics. Dropped 5km (2.7nm) off the coast of Crescent City, California, it took 6min to fall and hit the Pacific Ocean at a speed of 12kt (22km/h). The CXV replica was recovered by divers from the recovery ship Two Sisters.
Source: Flight International
