Artemis II crew, recovery teams train for final phase of moon mission

NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover is assisted by U.S. Navy personnel as he exits a mockup of the Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean during training Feb. 25, while his crewmates look on.

The Artemis II crew and a team from NASA and the Department of Defense are spending several days at sea to test the procedures and tools that will be used to help the crew to safety when they splash down in the ocean at the end of their 10-day, 685,000-mile journey around the moon next year as part of the first crewed mission under NASA's Artemis campaign.

On the day of the crew's return to Earth, a Navy ship with specially trained personnel will await splashdown and then approach the Orion capsule to help extract the four astronauts. An inflatable raft, called the front porch, will provide a place for them to rest when they exit the capsule before they are then individually hoisted by helicopters and flown to the waiting ship.

Artemis II, launching atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will test the Orion spacecraft's life support systems needed for future lunar missions.