New York City’s Intrepid Museum will present a free Astro Live program on Sunday, May 21, at 3:00pm ET.
Participants will hear from members of NASA’s Commercial Crew and Exploration Ground Systems Programs: Lilianna Villarreal, Artemis II Recovery Director, and Samantha Testa, Commercial Crew Program Recovery Lead.
During the early days of the space program in the 1960s, Intrepid served as a prime recovery vessel for two space capsules that splashed down into the ocean after their missions. Today’s Crew Dragon and Orion capsules are similarly designed for water landings, making the safe and timely recovery of astronauts a continued priority via modern hardware, updated procedures and multi-agency cooperation. This includes identifying primary and alternate splashdown locations, monitoring weather and public safety conditions, and conducting retrieval rehearsals with replica spacecraft.
Lilianna Villarreal and Samantha Testa will talk about NASA’s operations to successfully retrieve crewed spacecraft after splashdown, as well as upcoming recovery plans for the Artemis II mission following its 10-day journey around the Moon.
The event is hosted and co-produced by John “Das” Galloway, founder of the Kerbal Space Academy and moderated by Elysia Segal, producer of public programs at the Intrepid Museum and a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
For more information and to sign up for a reminder, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/intrepid-museums-astro-live-tickets-629234787187