NASA and the the U.S Navy are practicing how they will recover astronauts once they dive down at seas in their capsules after missions to deep space, something the Navy used to do almost 40 years ago.
Several tests on the retrieval of an empty mock-up of the Orion capsule have been completed on Thursday. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew capsule is planned to be sent to Mars or a near-Earth asteroid someday.
The exercises were carried out by the crew of the USS Arlington and Navy divers in the Elizabeth River at a Naval Station Norfolk wharf.
According to ABCNews, Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S Navy Fleet Force Command implied in a statement that he welcomes the chance to take part once more in picking up NASA astronauts like what they used to do to support America’s quest to put a man on the moon.
Since the space shuttle program Apollo was shuttered, U.S. astronauts started hitching rides from Russia’s Soyuz Rocket, which lands in Kazakhstan desert.
The U.S. wants to make use of private companies to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station but NASA plans to use its own Orion spacecraft for deep exploration. However, the Orion is still under development.
Not unlike before, Navy doesn’t intend to utilize helicopters to retrieve Orion, though they will be available on reserve. Instead of a helicopter, the space agency will use an amphibious transport ship to come near the capsule and dispatch small boat teams and divers to secure the capsule.
Like what they have practiced onThursday, the crews will fasten a winch line to the Orion and pull it into the amphibious ship’s well deck. Once on-board the ship, it will be drained before informing the astronauts that it safe to to get out of the capsule.
More testing and training of the method are designed in the coming years. Until 2021, astronauts will not be able to fly into space aboard Orion.
