The four-person Artemis II crew is at Kennedy Space Center in Florida preparing to lift off and travel to the moon as early as next week. Their round-trip mission will span nearly half a million miles over nine days, looping around the moon’s far side and returning to Earth — the first crewed lunar mission since 1972. Because this is a test flight, NASA and its partners are preparing for every contingency.
A global Air Force rescue team, Detachment 3, has coordinated contingency planning and astronaut rescues for NASA since 1959 and will be on standby for Artemis II. Members of the unit train intensely for scenarios they hope never occur. “We absolutely never want it to happen,” said Lt. Colonel Kevin Pieper, who oversees the unit.
CBS Saturday Morning observed a simulation of a mid-launch abort recovery. In the drill, a C-17 transports roughly 15,000 pounds of rescue gear to a splashdown area. The aircraft airdrops jet skis, inflatable boats, medical supplies and other equipment. A team of pararescue jumpers, known as PJs, jumps into the water, gather the gear, approach the capsule, and work to extricate the astronauts onto a life raft stocked with food, water, survival items and medical supplies.
Rescue jumper Jason Dykstra explained that teams must be prepared for unknowns inside the capsule and for extended time at sea. “We have enough supplies to sustain those astronauts, medically speaking, until help arrives, until we can get them out of there and get them to a higher level of care,” Dykstra said. The teams are equipped to support astronauts aboard the life raft for about 72 to 96 hours if needed.
Multiple teams will be on alert when Artemis II launches. Pieper noted that rehearsing a variety of scenarios is essential because so many variables exist during a crewed launch. Backing up Artemis II is a “huge responsibility,” he said. “We are here to make sure that they get home safely, if, God forbid, something like this were to happen. Everyone understands just how important what we’re doing is, for not only for the safety of the crew, but for the mission.”