Splashdown

File:Apollo 15 splashdown.jpg

Apollo 15 makes contact with the Pacific Ocean.

File:Splashdown.png

Locations of Atlantic Ocean splashdowns of American spacecraft prior to the 21st century

File:Splashdown 2.png

Locations of Pacific Ocean splashdowns of American spacecraft

Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft or launch vehicle in a body of water, usually by parachute. This has been the primary recovery method of American capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with the private SpaceX Dragon. It is also possible for the Boeing Starliner, Russian Soyuz, and the Chinese Shenzhou crewed capsules to land in water in case of contingency. NASA recovered the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters (SRBs) via splashdown, as is done for Rocket Lab's Electron first stage.

As the name suggests, the vehicle parachutes into an ocean or other large body of water. Due to its low density and viscosity, water cushions the spacecraft enough that there is no need for a braking rocket to slow the final descent as is the case with Russian and Chinese crewed space capsules or airbags as is the case with the Starliner.<ref name="Prof Tous">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The American practice came in part because American launch sites are on the coastline and launch primarily over water.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Russian launch sites such as Baikonur Cosmodrome are far inland, and most early launch aborts would descend on land.

History

File:Apollo14 - Landung.jpg

Apollo 14 returns to Earth, 1971.

The splashdown method of landing was used for Mercury, Gemini and Apollo (including Skylab, which used Apollo capsules). Soyuz 23 unintentionally landed on a freezing lake with slushy patches of ice during a snowstorm.<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On early Mercury flights, a helicopter attached a cable to the capsule, lifted it from the water and delivered it to a nearby ship. This was changed after the sinking of Liberty Bell 7. All later Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules had a flotation collar (similar to a rubber life raft) attached to the spacecraft to increase their buoyancy. The spacecraft would then be brought alongside a ship and lifted onto deck by crane.

After the flotation collar is attached, a hatch on the spacecraft is usually opened. At that time, some astronauts decide to be hoisted aboard a helicopter for a ride to the recovery ship and some decided to stay with the spacecraft and be lifted aboard ship via crane. All Gemini and Apollo flights (Apollos 7 to 17) used the former, while Mercury missions from Mercury 6 to Mercury 9, as well as all Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz used the latter, especially the Skylab flights as to preserve all medical data. During the Gemini and Apollo programs, NASA used Template:MV for the astronauts to practice water egress.

Apollo 11 was America's first Moon landing mission and marked the first time that humans walked on the surface of another planetary body. The possibility of the astronauts bringing pathogens from the Moon back to Earth was remote, but not ruled out. To contain any possible contaminants at the scene of the splashdown, the astronauts donned special Biological Isolation Garments and the outside of the suits were scrubbed prior to the astronauts being hoisted aboard Template:USS and escorted safely inside a Mobile Quarantine Facility.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:SpaceX CRS 25 Splashdown (1920x1080).webm

The splashdown of the SpaceX CRS-25 resupply mission

Both the SpaceX Dragon 1 and Dragon 2 capsules were designed to use the splashdown method of landing.Template:Efn The original cargo Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California. At the request of NASA, both the crew and cargo variations of the Dragon 2 capsule splash down off the coast of Florida, either in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The early design concept for Orion (then known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle) featured recovery on land using a combination of parachutes and airbags, although it was also designed to make a contingency splashdown if needed. Due to weight considerations, the airbag design concept was dropped for Orion, and it conducts landings via splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Disadvantages

Perhaps the most dangerous aspect is the possibility of the spacecraft flooding and sinking. For example, when the hatch of Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule blew prematurely, the capsule sank and Grissom almost drowned. Since the spacecraft's flooding will occur from a location in its hull where it ruptures first, it is important to determine the location on the hull that experiences the highest loading.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This location along the impacting side is determined by the surrounding `air cushion' layer, which deforms the water surface before the moment of impact, and results in a non-trivial geometry of the liquid surface during first touch-down.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Soyuz 23 was dragged under a frozen lake by its parachutes. The crew became incapacitated by carbon dioxide and were rescued after a nine-hour recovery operation.<ref name="NASA CO2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

If the capsule comes down far from any recovery forces, the crew may be stranded at sea for an extended period of time. As an example, Scott Carpenter in Aurora 7 overshot the assigned landing zone by Template:Convert. These recovery operation mishaps can be mitigated by placing several vessels on standby in different locations, but this can be an expensive option.

Exposure to salt water can have adverse effects on vehicles intended for reuse, such as Dragon.<ref name="NASA Reusable Rocket">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Launch vehicles

File:Freedom Star SRB recovery.jpg

Space Shuttle SRB being recovered by Freedom Star after splashing down on STS-133

Some reusable launch vehicles recover components via splashdown. This was first seen with the Space Shuttle SRBs, with STS-1 launching in 1981. Out of 135 launches, NASA recovered all but two sets of SRBs.<ref name="NSF SRBs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

SpaceX has conducted propulsive splashdowns of the Falcon 9 first stage, Super Heavy booster, and Starship spacecraft. These vehicles are designed to land on land or modified barges and do not always survive intact after tipping over in the water; SpaceX has mainly conducted propulsive splashdowns for development flights. After the launch of CRS-16, the booster experienced a control issue and splashed down in the ocean instead of making an intended landing at Landing Zone 1.<ref name="NSF CRS-16">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rocket Lab intended to catch the first stage of their Electron rocket with a helicopter as it descended under parachute, but abandoned this idea in favor of parachute splashdown. In 2020, Rocket Lab made their first booster recovery.<ref name="TechCrunchElectron">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of spacecraft splashdowns

Crewed spacecraft

#	Spacecraft	Agency	Landing date	Coordinates	Recovery ship	Miss distance (km)	Reference
1	Freedom 7	NASA	May 5, 1961	Template:Coord	Template:USS	Template:Convert	<ref>Ezell (1988) p. 143</ref>
2	Liberty Bell 7	NASA	July 21, 1961	Template:Coord	Template:USS	Template:Convert	<ref>Ezell (1988) p. 144</ref>
3	Friendship 7	NASA	February 20, 1962	Template:Coord	Template:USS (USS Randolph**)	74	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 145</ref>
4	Aurora 7	NASA	May 24, 1962	Template:Coord	Template:USS (Template:USS**)	400	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 146</ref>
5	Sigma 7	NASA	October 3, 1962	Template:Coord	Template:USS	7.4	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 147</ref>
6	Faith 7	NASA	May 16, 1963	Template:Coord	USS Kearsarge	8.1	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 148</ref>
7	Gemini 3	NASA	March 23, 1965	Template:Coord	USS Intrepid	111	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 159</ref>
8	Gemini 4	NASA	June 7, 1965	Template:Coord	Template:USS	81	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 160</ref>
9	Gemini 5	NASA	August 29, 1965	Template:Coord	USS Lake Champlain	270	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 161</ref>
10	Gemini 7	NASA	December 18, 1965	Template:Coord	USS Wasp	12	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 162</ref>
11	Gemini 6A	NASA	December 16, 1965	Template:Coord	USS Wasp	13	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 163</ref>
12	Gemini 8	NASA	March 17, 1966	Template:Coord	Template:USS (Template:USS**)	2	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 164</ref>
13	Gemini 9A	NASA	June 6, 1966	Template:Coord	USS Wasp	0.7	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 165</ref>
14	Gemini 10	NASA	July 21, 1966	Template:Coord	Template:USS	6	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 166</ref>
15	Gemini 11	NASA	September 15, 1966	Template:Coord	Template:USS	5	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 167</ref>
16	Gemini 12	NASA	November 15, 1966	Template:Coord	USS Wasp	5	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 168</ref>
17	Apollo 7	NASA	October 22, 1968	Template:Coord	Template:USS	3	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 188</ref>
18	Apollo 8	NASA	December 27, 1968	Template:Coord	Template:USS	2	<ref>Ezell, Volume II, p. 189</ref>
19	Apollo 9	NASA	March 13, 1969	Template:Coord	USS Guadalcanal	5	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 83</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 58</ref>
20	Apollo 10	NASA	May 26, 1969	Template:Coord	Template:USS	2.4	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 84</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 78</ref>
21	Apollo 11	NASA	July 24, 1969	Template:Coord	Template:USS	3.13	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 85</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 98</ref>
22	Apollo 12	NASA	November 24, 1969	Template:Coord	USS Hornet	3.7	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 86</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 120</ref>
23	Apollo 13	NASA	April 17, 1970	Template:Coord	Template:USS	1.85	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 87</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 143</ref>
24	Apollo 14	NASA	February 9, 1971	Template:Coord	Template:USS	1.1	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 88</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 168</ref>
25	Apollo 15	NASA	August 7, 1971	Template:Coord	Template:USS	1.85	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 89</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 197</ref>
26	Apollo 16	NASA	April 27, 1972	Template:Coord	Template:USS	0.55	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 91</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 225</ref>
27	Apollo 17	NASA	December 19, 1972	Template:Coord	USS Ticonderoga	1.85	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 92</ref><ref>Orloff, p. 251</ref>
28	Skylab 2	NASA	June 22, 1973	Template:Coord	USS Ticonderoga		<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 104</ref>
29	Skylab 3	NASA	September 25, 1973	Template:Coord	USS New Orleans		<ref name="Ezell, Volume III, p. 105">Ezell, Volume III, p. 105</ref>
30	Skylab 4	NASA	February 8, 1974	Template:Coord	USS New Orleans		<ref name="Ezell, Volume III, p. 105"/>
31	Apollo CSM-111	NASA	July 24, 1975	Template:Coord	USS New Orleans	1.3	<ref>Ezell, Volume III, p. 112</ref><ref>"ASTP Apollo Miss Distance", ASTP Summary Science Report - Mission Description p. 36, Template:Webarchive</ref>
32	Soyuz 23	USSR	October 16, 1976	Lake Tengiz	Mi-8 helicopter		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
33	Crew Dragon Demo-2	SpaceX	August 2, 2020	Template:Coord	GO Navigator		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
33	Crew Dragon Crew-1	SpaceX	May 2, 2021	Template:Coord	GO Navigator		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
34	Inspiration4	SpaceX	September 18, 2021		GO Searcher		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
35	Crew Dragon Crew-2	SpaceX	November 7, 2021		GO Navigator
35	Axiom Mission 1	SpaceX	April 25, 2022		Megan
36	Crew Dragon Crew-3	SpaceX	May 6, 2022		Shannon		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
37	Crew Dragon Crew-4	SpaceX	October 14, 2022		Megan
38	Crew Dragon Crew-5	SpaceX	March 11, 2023		Shannon
39	Axiom Mission 2	SpaceX	May 31, 2023		Megan
40	Polaris Dawn	SpaceX	Sep 15, 2024

Uncrewed spacecraft

Spacecraft	Agency	Landing date	Coordinates	Recovery ship	Miss distance
Jupiter AM-18 (Able and Baker)	USAF	May 28, 1959	Template:Convert N Antigua Island	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mercury-Big Joe	NASA	September 9, 1959	Template:Convert SE Cape Canaveral	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Mercury-Little Joe 2 Sam The Rhesus Monkey	NASA	December 4, 1959	Template:Convert SE Wallops Island, Virginia	Template:USS	? km<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Mercury-Redstone 1A	NASA	December 19, 1960	Template:Convert SE Cape Canaveral	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mercury-Redstone 2	NASA	January 31, 1961	Template:Convert SE Cape Canaveral	Template:USS<ref name="homestead1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Mercury-Atlas 2	NASA	February 21, 1961	Template:Convert SE Cape Canaveral	USS Donner<ref name="homestead1"/>	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Discoverer 25 (Corona 9017)	USAF	June 16, 1961			mid-air recovery missed
Mercury-Atlas 4	NASA	September 13, 1961	Template:Convert E of Bermuda	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mercury-Atlas 5	NASA	November 29, 1961	Template:Convert SE of Bermuda	Template:USS	? km<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Gemini 2	NASA	January 19, 1965	Template:Coord Template:Convert downrange from KSC	USS Lake Champlain	Template:Convert<ref>"Gemini 2 Distance traveled, Landing Point, Miss Distance", Manned Space Flight Network Performance Analysis for the GT-2 Mission; Pg V - Distance traveled, Page 21 - Landing Point, Miss Distance, (NASA X-552-65-204)</ref>
AS-201	NASA	February 26, 1966	Template:Coord Template:Convert downrange from KSC	USS Boxer	? km<ref name="uncrewed" />
AS-202	NASA	August 25, 1966	Template:Coord Template:Convert southwest of Wake Island	USS Hornet	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Gemini 2-MOL	USAF	November 3, 1966	Template:Convert SE KSC near Ascension Island	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Apollo 4	NASA	November 9, 1967	Template:Coord	Template:USS	Template:Convert<ref name="uncrewed" />
Apollo 6	NASA	April 4, 1968	Template:Coord	USS Okinawa	? km<ref name="uncrewed" />
Zond 5	USSR	September 21, 1968	Template:Coord	USSR recovery naval vessel Template:Ship and Template:Ship	Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Zond 5, Landing Point, Miss Distance" Template:Webarchive, NASA Solar System Exploration - Zond 5, Landing Point, Miss Distance.</ref>
Zond 8	USSR	October 27, 1970	Template:Convert SE of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean	USSR recovery ship Template:Ship	24 km<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>"Zond 8, Landing Point" Template:Webarchive, NASA Solar System Exploration - Zond 8, Splashdown area.</ref>
Cosmos 1374	USSR	June 4, 1982	Template:Coord Template:Convert S of Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean	USSR recovery ship	? km
Cosmos 1445	USSR	March 15, 1983	Template:Convert S of Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean	USSR recovery ship	? km
Cosmos 1517	USSR	December 27, 1983	near Crimea, Black Sea	USSR recovery ship	? km
Cosmos 1614	USSR	December 19, 1984	? km W of the Crimea, Black Sea	USSR recovery ship	? km
COTS Demo Flight 1	SpaceX	December 8, 2010	Template:Convert west of Baja California, Mexico, Pacific Ocean	?	Template:Convert<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Dragon C2+	SpaceX	May 31, 2012	Template:Coord	?	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CRS SpX-1	SpaceX	October 28, 2012	?	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CRS SpX-2	SpaceX	March 27, 2013	?	American Islander	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Exploration Flight Test 1	NASA	December 5, 2014	Template:Coord, Template:Convert west of Baja California	Template:USS
Crew Dragon Demo-1	SpaceX	March 8, 2019	In the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Pensacola, Florida	GO Searcher
SpaceX CRS-21	SpaceX	January 14, 2020	In the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Tampa, Florida	GO Navigator
Artemis I	NASA	December 11, 2022	Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California	USS Portland	4 nm
IFT-4	SpaceX	June 6, 2024	Indian Ocean
IFT-5	SpaceX	October 13, 2024	Indian Ocean
IFT-6	SpaceX	November 19, 2024	Indian Ocean

Gallery

• Apollo 15 descends to splashdown.jpg

  The Apollo 15 spacecraft splashed down safely despite a parachute failure. (NASA)

• Splashdown 2.jpg

  Apollo 15 splashdown (NASA)

• Splashdown 3.jpg

  Apollo 11 after splashdown (NASA)

• Apollo 13 CM recovery to USS Iwo Jima (S70-15530).jpg

  Apollo 13 hoisted onto ship (NASA)

• Gemini water egress training - GPN-2006-000029.jpg

  Gemini water egress training

• Space X water3.JPG

  Recovery of the Dragon C2+ on May 31, 2012

• EFT-1 Orion recovery.2.jpg

  Recovery of the EFT-1 Orion, December 5, 2014

• SpaceX Demo-2 Landing (NHQ202008020015).jpg

  Landing of SpaceX Demo-2, 2 August 2020

• Artemis II Orion Underway Recovery Test 10 (URT-10) - Day 3 (KSC-20230727-PH KAA02-0017).jpg

  Artemis II Orion capsule well dock Underway Recovery Test 10 (URT-10)

See also

• Apollo program
• Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
• Helicopter 66
• Project Gemini
• Project Mercury
• Skylab
• SpaceX Dragon 1
• SpaceX Dragon 2
• Water landing
• Zond program

Bibliography

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External links

• Template:Wiktionary-inline

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