NASA and the Department of Defense have completed the second recovery test for the crewed Artemis II mission aboard an amphibious transport dock in preparation for the mission’s launch to the moon.
During Underway Recovery Test 11, the NASA-led team timed the crew extraction from the capsule to the medical bay of USS San Diego (LPD 22) and carried out day-and-night recovery procedures to support Artemis II personnel and process certification, U.S. Space Command said Monday.
The NASA-DOD team also practiced the recovery procedures and releasing and recovering the crew module test article.
Prior to the test, dive teams from the U.S. Navy trained at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, where astronauts also train for spacewalks.
Lessons learned from the latest recovery test will inform future underway tests to ensure the team’s readiness to recover the Artemis II crew safely.
“Amphibious transport dock ships, such as ours, give NASA the ability to recover the capsule and collect critical data to help make sure everything is ready to recover the astronauts and capsule during future Artemis missions,” said Capt. David Walton, commanding officer of USS San Diego.
The test marks the first time that NASA and DOD demonstrated a full recovery simulation with the Artemis II flight crew.