SpaceX has passed two more critical stages in its bid to put humans in space when it received NASA approval for its human certification plan and permission to proceed with firing the SuperDraco abort motors in a test stand at LC-40 at Cape Canaveral. The pusher engines are designed to lift the Dragon capsule from a Falcon 9 launch vehicle in difficulties during ascent. An upcoming test will fire the capsule to an altitude of 1,524 m (5,000 ft) for a demonstration of parachute deployment and recovery in the Atlantic Ocean.
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