LPD aids in spacecraft recovery tests

The San Antonio-class amphibious warship USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) completed a series of recovery operation practice tests with NASA for the Orion spacecraft that is anticipated to get the space agency’s back into the business of launching astronauts. Its crew and NASA officials conducted several test recoveries during day and night hours off the West Coast, according to a U.S. 3rd Fleet. The first Orion unmanned mission, dubbed Exploration Mission-1, is expected to launch in late 2019. It will be an unmanned operation. The Navy plans to send San Antonio-class ships, such as Murtha, out to retrieve the spacecraft after splashdown following its 280,000-mile expedition. Orion is designed to reach deep-space destinations, including Mars, according to NASA. San Antonio “amphs” have well decks that designed to launch and recover amphibious craft and small rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIB), which the Navy will use to get the Orion spacecraft back to the ships. (Source: USNI News 11/07/18) Gulf Coast Note: USS John P. Murtha is one of 11 LPDs delivered to the Navy. Since 2000, the LPDs have been built, and are under construction, at either Avondale, La., or Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard.