The USS San Diego became a stage for the next lunar mission's dress rehearsal, where astronauts from the future Artemis II crew joined Navy divers for a mock recovery operation in the Pacific, as reported by the U.S. Naval Institute News. This weeklong Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) was a crucial step towards the highly anticipated Artemis II mission, NASA's first crewed voyage to the moon in over half a century, the planning of which takes meticulous coordination between various teams to perfect the art of a safe return.
The crew of the USS San Diego took on the operation that mirrored actual space-to-Earth returns, both in daylight and the darker challenges of night, the vessel's deck teams working in tandem with helicopter units to haul in a training module comparable in size to the real Orion spacecraft, it was revealed Lili Villareal, NASA's head landing honcho claimed the trials went off "very successful" in a press briefing that laid out the mission's complexities. The upcoming blastoff, slotted for September 2025, would soar on the backs of seasoned pros like Navy Capt. Reid Wiseman and his diverse crew, with pratfalls such as equipment hiccups and tricky sea states tackled head-on in the recent ocean sprawl, lending a dose of real-world unpredictability to an otherwise simulated setting.
Navy veterans are no strangers to supporting space shenanigans—in fact, last year saw the USS Portland mop up the Orion module after its unmanned moon loop. This time around, the excitement level surged aboard USS San Diego as Astronauts were hoisted aloft via a helicopter overhead in night ops that had Wiseman himself mark the experience as akin to movie magic, he shared these comments during a briefing by the ship's side.
Not just a trip to the moon, the Artemis missions set their sights farther, stargazing at Mars with aims to sprinkle humanity across the Martian sands, and the diversified cast features Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen eyeing a legacy beyond "firsts," Glover stated in the same press event that the crux of the mission is ensuring future generations can carry the torch of exploration, attributing the mission's reach to a team that thrives on new and creative blood, Koch also echoed these sentiments presenting inclusivity as the bedrock of their successes. Meanwhile, the Navy's role keeps proving pivotal, demonstrating yet again their operational prowess in the 11th iteration of their interstellar lifesaver drills.
Standing by for another round of rehearsals, the so-called ULT-12, the teams are gearing up for what's touted as the certification run, a precursor to the actual moon-bound marvel—a colossal partnership where NASA, the Navy's Expeditionary Strike Group 3, U.S. Space Command, and other Defense Department factions fuse their expertise to pen an ambitious new chapter in space exploration with readiness and resilience at the core.
