As the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean carrying the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II moon mission, the safe landing was in part of rigorous testing to combat all possible scenarios and lock in all contingency plans. Mario Romero, current Intuitive Machines engineer and punk rocker, worked on Orion as member of the Orion Crew Capsule Recovery Team during his time at NASA.
Mario Romero works on an Orion stimulation. (Photo provided by Mario Romero)
Romero and the team would mimic environments and potential incidents that a capsule returning to earth could encounter while landing in water. The main part of his work was procedure development, which was done through multiple scenario repetitions at NASA’s 6.2 million-gallon pool. They used wave machines to stimulate wave lengths, shut off all the lights, turn the sprinklers in a rain simulation and turn on high powered fans. For distress, team would tip the capsule mock-up on its side or upside down.
“Our job was to create a manual uprighting system to establish a stable 1 condition, but that’s not all,” Romero said to punkrockandufos. “To make it even more difficult on ourselves, we’d run scenarios after scenario with crew members suffering ‘notional’ spinal injuries. After uprighting the capsule, we’d develop and rehearse the procedures for the ‘front porch’ attachment. From here, we’d practice safely egressing the ‘injured’ crew members over and over again to ensure all contingencies were considered and to optimize the entire endeavor.”
For Artemis II’s 10-day trek, the astronauts were able to explore the moon in ways that haven’t been done before. When returning on April 10, they were met with a public clamoring for some feel-good news to rebel against the daily news cycle of threats of war, and strife. For those who helped with the mission behind the scenes, the feel-good vibes were mutual.
“It’s hard to find the appropriate descriptors that can fully encapsulate the feeling of getting to witness all the work we, and everyone else, did being put into action,”Romero said. “ The best I can say is that my inner-child giddiness hit a new peak! I especially loved seeing the reactions of everyone, but especially of the Houston communities- that brought me a real sense of gratitude and joy.”
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