Watch NASA drop its Orion spacecraft into a million-gallon splashdown pool Chris Davies - Apr 6, 2021, 3:36pm CDT Before you can launch something into space, first you have to drop it, hence NASA ditching its Orion Spacecraft into its vast Hydro Impact Basin to see how the latest design holds up. It’s an early preview of what will eventually be the final major part of Orion’s journey back from the Moon, as it splashes down into the Pacific Ocean. Before it hits the ocean, of course, it’ll be slowed on its descent by parachutes. Still, 14,000 pounds of space capsule still makes a splash, something the Hydro Impact Basin (HIB) at NASA’s Langley Research Center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility in Hampton, Virginia is well equipped to demonstrate.