Photos of the recovery of the Artemis II mission spacecraft by the US Navy

This Friday, NASA's Artemis II mission Orion spacecraft, which has flown past the Moon, arrived back on Earth on time.

Rise, the tiny fifth astronaut of Artemis II and his mission aboard as ZGI
The beautiful images of the Moon captured by Artemis II and the cameras used

The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, as planned. Its recovery was entrusted to the United States Navy, which deployed the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) (below) to the area to rescue the four astronauts (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen) and recover the spacecraft.

The operation was supported by the Helicopter Maritime Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 "Wildcards", based at NAS North Island (San Diego), a unit equipped with MH-60S Seahawk helicopters (below), aircraft used for transport and rescue.

The first contact with the astronauts was assigned to an elite unit of the US Navy: the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group ONE (EODGRU-1).

A medical diving team from this unit was assigned to open the Orion spacecraft after the capsule's surface was checked for hazardous materials, perform a medical assessment of the astronauts, and assist them in exiting the spacecraft.

HSC-3 was responsible for evacuating the astronauts from the area with its MH-60S helicopters, after the Artemis II crew had been removed from their spacecraft and transferred to the US Navy's fast rescue boats that had been dispatched to the site. Here we see the moment when one of the astronauts was hoisted up by the rescue hoist of one of the helicopters.

Above, we see the diving medical team that made that first contact with the astronauts, a team comprised of Lieutenant Commander Jesse Wang, Chief Petty Officer (Medical Corps) Laddy Aldridge, Chief Petty Officer (Medical Corps) Vlad Link, and Petty Officer First Class Steve Kapala. EODGRU-1, based in San Diego, is tasked with eliminating explosive hazards to provide access to restricted areas and employing advanced tactics and technologies to exploit and secure underwater dominance.

HSC-23 deployed four MH-60S helicopters in the astronaut rescue operation. Here they are seen returning to the flight deck of the USS John P. Murtha. The helicopters were 42 (BuNo 165754, bottom left), 44 (bottom right), 56 (top right), and 51 (top left).

One ​​of the funniest photos of this operation was this one published by NASA, in which we see astronaut Christina Koch on the flight deck of the USS John P. Murtha. The ship's crew was all around, following the moment, but there was someone else at one of the windows, as we can see in this enlargement:

Along with the Artemis II crew came their ZGI, the little Rise, which I told you about here. It's the small plush toy that served as a zero-gravity indicator on this mission. Here we see it in the left hand of NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (left), sitting in one of the MH-60S helicopters next to Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen (right).

Following the astronauts' rescue, the US Navy spent the next few hours moving the Orion spacecraft to the USS John P. Murtha's floodable dock. This is the part of the ship used to deploy amphibious vehicles and landing craft.

The U.S. Navy has published a large series of photos of this operation on DVIDShub.net, while NASA has published another series of photos on Flickr. You can see some of them here. To enlarge them, click on each image.

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Photos: U.S. Navy / NASA.