Three seconds into the approximately 7,000-foot fall, mortars deploy drogue, or pilot, parachutes.  They in turn will deploy three main parachutes that slow the CST-100's descent.  The reusable, capsule-shaped spacecraft is designed to carry up to seven people, or a combination of people and cargo, to the International Space Station, as well as other low earth orbit destinations such as the Bigelow Aerospace Complex.
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