• Video: Slidewire basket crew egress system tested at pad 39A (SpaceflightNow)
• MRAP Rolls Through Pad Evacuation Runs (NASA)

This past Friday, SpaceX tested the tower escape system for Crew Dragon at Pad 39A.

This video shows the emergency escape baskets sliding down a cable on the tower at the launch pad. In the event of an emergency, astronauts and ground teams can quickly get away from dangerous conditions, should there be a pre-launch accident with the Falcon 9 rocket or Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Each basket, which can carry three people, were modified from the space shuttle program. At the end of the slide line, the personnel get into an armored vehicle called an MRAP, which they would drive to safety.

This is basically the same plan as used during the shuttle program, but the updated baskets will leave the tower from the 265-foot level, which is 70 feet higher than was used during the shuttle era.

An escape using the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines would take less than a second, according to SpaceX. However, for safety reasons, the capsule escape engines are not activated until just before the start of fueling in the final countdown.

NASA says the Crew Dragon’s first piloted mission — with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on-board — could launch as soon as mid-to-late May from pad 39A. The astronauts will fly to the space station for an expedition that could last several weeks up to several months, then return to Earth for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean just off Florida’s East Coast. How many baskets/slidelines are there: Seven!