Listen to this audio excerpt from Tim Goddard, NASA open water lead:
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At the end of their mission around the Moon, NASA’s Artemis II astronauts were recovered from their Orion spacecraft by a team of U.S. Navy divers and NASA personnel. This included Tim Goddard, NASA open water lead, who helped guide the complex open water recovery of both Orion and the crew members, once they safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
As the open water lead, Goddard is responsible for the design, certification, procurement, and training, for both the NASA and Navy team. He also oversees the hardware and operations that are needed to recover the crew and spacecraft from the open ocean and bring them to safety aboard an amphibious Navy ship after splashdown.
“This is a very complex set of operations,” said Goddard. “We have six small boats in the water. We’re relying on four separate helicopters and the host Navy ship at the same time. We have over 50 folks in the water and in different boats. I have team members underwater, on the surface, and small boats moving all around.”
