Unlucky Orion crashing out of the space program as drop test fails, NASASpaceflight.com

"Unfortunately, the Orion Project suffered a failure on one of its tests this week, when a boilerplate Orion crashed to Earth after its "parachutes failed to deploy". However, the problem is not believed to be Orion or the parachute system's fault, with the failure memo citing a problem with the rigging associated with the extraction system - although this is yet to be confirmed, as an investigation will be required. "A quick heads up that the Orion test drop failed. Looks like the extraction system failed to release so the Orion chute system never deployed," noted the memo acquired on Tuesday (the day of the failure) by L2. "Still saving the remains but expecting minimal hardware recovery.""

Keith's 15 Feb note: I cannot find any mention whatsoever of this crash at NASA.gov - not at the main exploration page, at the main Constellation page, at the Constellation blog or anywhere else. Why is ESMD PAO refusing to officialy explain what happened? This is not the first time that ESMD has sat on Orion parachute failure information.

- Why Won't ESMD Release Orion Parachute Test Vehicle Crash Photos?, earlier post
- Orion Crash Photos and Videos Online - Finally, earlier post

Keith's 22 Feb update: Still nothing from ESMD PAO on this. Either they do not want to say anything or they do not know what to say. Probably both.