Getting To Know Max

A Closer Look at the Max Launch Abort System, OnOrbit
“The test launch of the Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility has been delayed to no earlier than 20 June due to weather issues. Here’s a look at the vehicle itself courtesy of NASA and what it is supposed to accomplish – plus some pictures you have probaby never seen before.
Mission Information: The NASA Constellation Program is developing an astronaut escape system for its Orion spacecraft, designed to carry humans to the International Space Station by 2015 and to the lunar surface by 2020. In a parallel effort, another NASA team, led by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC), is preparing to demonstrate an alternate escape system to explore different technological approaches to the same task. The alternate escape system, called Max Launch Abort System (MLAS), is a risk mitigation effort on behalf of Orion. MLAS was named after Maxime (Max) Faget, a Mercury-era pioneer. Faget was the designer of the Project Mercury Capsule and holder of the patent for the “Aerial Capsule Emergency Separation Device,” which is commonly known as the escape tower.”