Max Launch Abort System - NASA Engineerin' & Safety Center NASA has successfully demonstrated an alternate system for future astronauts t' escape their launch vehicle. Ahoy! A simulated launch o' t' Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS, took place Wednesday mornin' at 6:26 a.m. at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, arrr, Wallops Island, Va. T' unpiloted launch tested an alternate concept for safely propellin' a future spacecraft and its crew away from a problem on t' launch pad or durin' ascent. Ahoy! T' MLAS consists o' four solid rocket abort motors inside a bullet-shaped composite fairin' attached t' a full-scale mockup o' t' crew module.