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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

NASA on Thursday conducted the second to last splashdown test for its Orion spacecraft as the agency prepares to eventually send humans to Mars.

Scientists at NASA's Langley facility used a pendulum and explosives to vault a test capsule into a pool of water at about 25 mph. The 11-foot craft disappeared behind a bowl-shaped splash before bouncing buoyantly against safety netting.

The last time a NASA spacecraft parachuted into the ocean with astronauts on board was in the 1970s during the Apollo missions. The rules of physics haven't changed, but the technology has grown dramatically, NASA officials said.

The capsule's heat shield is no longer steel but carbon fiber and titanium, making it stronger and lighter. Instead of a couch-like seat to hold all of the astronauts, each will have his and her own custom-made chair to better protect the spine. Computer simulations have shrunk the number of actual splashdown tests from 100 to 10.

"A capsule hitting the water hasn't changed," said Mark Baldwin, an analyst with Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor behind Orion. "But what we know about it has."

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