NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Splashdown Recovery Test-12

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Splashdown Recovery Test-12

Preparations for NASA’s next Artemis flight recently took to the seas as a joint NASA and U.S. Navy team, led by NASA's Ground Exploration Systems (EGS), spent a week off the coast of California practicing procedures for recovering the Artemis II spacecraft and crew.

NASA and European Space Agency astronauts took part in practicing Artemis recovery operations during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams practiced recovery procedure validation as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. 

The Artemis II test flight will be sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a ten-day journey around the Moon and back.

Artemis II will launch no earlier than April 2026.

Check out more on this year's URT-12: https://go.nasa.gov/4i3fGxv

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Learn more about NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket: nasa.gov/sls

Follow updates on the Artemis blog: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Video Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 44 seconds
Release Date: April 4, 2025

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