NASA and Department of Defense teams work to recover the Orion crew module test article as they practice Artemis 2 post-splashdown procedures during Underway Recovery Test-12 on board the USS Somerset off the coast of California on Friday, March 28, 2025. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls and Joel Kowsky)
As seen from inside the well deck on board the USS Somerset, NASA and Department of Defense teams practiced recovery procedures in support of the agency’s plans to send the Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Why is this amazing?
It has been more than 50 years since a crew splashed down on Earth after flying to the moon. Now NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense are preparing to do that again in support of the space agency’s upcoming Artemis 2 mission, which will fly four astronauts around the moon before returning to Earth and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Unlike during the Apollo program, when helicopters were used to hoist the crew and command module onto the flight deck of U.S. Navy airfcraft carriers, the Artemis program is using amphibious transport dock ships that have open well decks to envelop the Orion capsule.
