Oklahoman will greet Artemis II astronauts after splashdown

Laddy Aldridge, a senior chief hospital corpsman from Cushing, Oklahoma, will be the first person to make contact with the Artemis II crew after their planned Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10, and he will enter the Orion capsule to begin medical assessments.

A U.S. Navy senior chief hospital corpsman from Oklahoma will be the first person to make contact with the Artemis II crew after the mission ends with a Pacific Ocean splashdown. Laddy Aldridge, a Cushing native assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit 1, serves aboard the USS John P. Murtha and is the senior dive independent duty corpsman for the recovery team. He and three team members have trained to open the Orion capsule, enter the spacecraft, and begin medical assessments for the crew after they return from deep space. The information was released by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service and is being reported alongside NASA's splashdown timeline and broadcast plans. Known details: - Laddy Aldridge is a senior chief hospital corpsman from Cushing, Oklahoma, assigned to EOD Expeditionary Support Unit 1 and serving aboard the USS John P. Murtha. - Aldridge will open the Orion spacecraft, enter the capsule, conduct initial medical exams, and assist astronauts with egress onto the inflatable raft set up by Navy divers. - NASA expects Orion and its four occupants to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at about 7:07 p.m. Oklahoma time. - NASA will provide broadcast coverage of the recovery on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Netflix, HBO Max, Discovery+, Peacock and Roku, and a separate splashdown stream will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 10 on NASA's YouTube channel. - Navy dive medical personnel are certified divers with specialized training in decompression illnesses and undersea medical care; their role includes ensuring dive-qualified service members are safe to conduct diving operations. Summary: The planned splashdown will conclude the Artemis II mission with a recovery operation that includes immediate medical assessments inside the Orion capsule and transfer of the crew to the USS John P. Murtha for further evaluation. Broadcast coverage and a separate YouTube stream are scheduled around the reported splashdown time, and NASA and military personnel will continue recovery work until the astronauts are assisted out of Orion and transported from the ship back to shore.