Had There Been a Real Launchpad Emergency, Boeing’s Test Dummy Would Have Been Perfectly Safe

By escaping the launchpad—where a disaster like a rocket explosion could theoretically take place—and touching down nearby, the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft passed a crucial flight test Monday morning. It was one of two major remaining trials before NASA can certify the vehicle ready to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing's Pad Abort Test, as it's called, came just one day after SpaceX announced a string of successful parachute tests, setting it up for an in-flight safety demonstration later this year. The overdue successes come as welcome news for NASA, which will otherwise be locked out of the ISS after its last ride from the Russian space agency next spring. It could conceivably purchase another one to replace the American astronaut returning to earth next fall, but would need special permission from congress to continue doing business with Russia, which supports Iran's nuclear program, into 2021.
Meant to simulate the rescue of a crew in the event that the rocket they're sitting on malfunctions, the Pad Abort Test put every safety system of the Starliner capsule through its paces. From atop a test stand at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the vehicle blasted off and flew away from the launchpad, reaching an altitude of nearly a mile. It then released a series of parachutes to right and slow the craft, which landed gently on a pillow of airbags a minute and a half after launch. One parachute failed to deploy, but the test dummy inside was none the worse for it.
"[It was] really a test of a system that we hope we never have to use," said NASA commercial crew project manager Kathy Lueders in an interview on Twitter, "but it really gives us confidence when we see all those different aspects of a system tried out and put through an arduous test like this."
Launchpad anomalies pose especially grave threats to astronauts, according to Boeing, because the crew needs to get away from the rocket it’s sitting on quickly, and the capsule needs to get high enough for the parachutes to work effectively.

By – Abhishek Singh
Content - https://www.popsci.com/boeing-spacex-launching-astronauts-into-space-orbit/