Members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team work to secure the Crew Module Test Article and align it on its stand inside the ship’s well deck in this image from Feb. 22, 2024. Underway Recovery Test 11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
These tests demonstrate the procedures and hardware needed to retrieve NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen after their approximately 10-day, 685,000-mile journey beyond the lunar far side and back.
Artemis II is the first crewed mission under NASA’s Artemis campaign and will test the agency’s Orion spacecraft life support systems needed for future lunar missions.
Image Credit: NASA/Isaac Watson