dsc49377.jpg

Detail of the canards.

Located just aft of the Q-ball (tip of the tower), the canards are four foot long aerodynamic control surfaces, starting on the conical portion of the tower and continuing on the cylindrical portion until the first set of boltheads.

The canards are deployed 11 seconds after an abort to properly orient the Command Module for reentry. The LES pulls the CM off of the launch vehicle on a ballistic path, with the escape tower forward. The canards are responsible for flipping the combined vehicle around so that the Command Module's heatshield is forward.

Picture 1 of 2.

Aft of the canards is the body of the tower jettison motor, used to jettison the escape tower and boost protective cover in a normal launch. The body of the tower jettison motor is the cylinder bounded by the two sets of boltheads.