Underway Recovery Test 7 (URT-7) - Day 3 Activities

U.S. Navy divers practice assembling the "front porch" before doing so in the open water during Underway Recovery Test-7 (URT-7) on Nov. 1, 2018, in the Pacific Ocean. During recovery operations, future astronauts will have the choice to stay in the Orion capsule while it is pulled into the well deck of a U.S. Navy ship, or be pulled out immediately on the front porch until taken by small boat back to the ship. The Exploration Ground Systems recovery team and the U.S. Navy are working together to verify and validate procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.