Re:Is this really good for anything? (Score 2, Insightful)

What scenario are they planning for? Shuttle has the escape wires because there is no other method of escape. (At most times during the mission, your only hope to survive a Shuttle flight is to land safely.) Orion will have a good, old-fashioned escape rocket to pull the whole capsule into the sky and parachute down. So you would use this roller-coaster to evacuate if the emergency is prior to the point where the access arm is retracted? I notice from the number of seats on the "coaster" that there are more than the Orion holds. For white-room launch pad workers, I guess?