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Splashdown

Apollo 15 makes contact with the Pacific Ocean.
Locations of Atlantic Ocean splashdowns of American spacecraft prior to the 21st century
Locations of Pacific Ocean splashdowns of American spacecraft

Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft in a body of water, usually by parachute. The method has been used primarily by American crewed capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with the private SpaceX Dragon. It is also possible for the Russian Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou crewed capsules to land in water, though this is only a contingency.

As the name suggests, the capsule parachutes into an ocean or other large body of water. The properties of water cushion 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 Boeing Starliner crewed space capsule.

The American practice came in part because American launch sites are on the coastline and launch primarily over water.[1] Russian launch sites are far inland and most early launch aborts were likely to descend on land.[citation needed]

Missions

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.[2][3]

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 MV Retriever 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 "Moon germs" back to Earth was remote, but not impossible. 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 USS Hornet and escorted safely inside a Mobile Quarantine Facility.[4]

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. 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 splashes down off the coast of Florida, either in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.[5][6]

The early design concept for the Orion Spacecraft (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 (only for an in-flight abort) if needed. Due to weight considerations, the airbag design concept was dropped. The present design concept features landings via splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.[7]

Disadvantages

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.[8] 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.[9][10][11]

If the capsule comes down far from any recovery forces, the crew are exposed to greater danger. As an example, Scott Carpenter in Aurora 7 overshot the assigned landing zone by 400 kilometers (250 mi). These recovery operation mishaps can be mitigated by placing several vessels on standby in several different locations, but this is quite an expensive option.

Locations

Crewed spacecraft

Uncrewed spacecraft

Gallery

See also

Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMap

Download coordinates as:

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Notes

  1. ^ "NASA article about American launch sites". NASA. May 14, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Accidental Spacecraft Splashdown Which Almost Killed Its Crew" – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ "Soyuz-23, Lands On A Frozen Lake". VideoCosmos. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  4. ^ Bob Fish. "Apollo 11 & 12 Recovery". USS Hornet Museum's website.
  5. ^ Clark, Stephen (January 12, 2021). "Cargo Dragon heads for splashdown off Florida's west coast". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  6. ^ "AUDIT OF COMMERCIAL RESUPPLY SERVICES TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.
  7. ^ "Solar System Exploration: News & Events: News Archive: NASA Announces Key Decision For Next Deep Space Transportation System". Solarsystem.nasa.gov. May 24, 2011. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  8. ^ Jain, U.; et al. (2021). "Air entrapment and its effect on pressure impulses in the slamming of a flat disc on water". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 938 (4): A31. arXiv:2012.10137. doi:10.1017/jfm.2021.846.
  9. ^ Jain, U.; et al. (2021). "Air-cushioning effect and Kelvin-Helmholtz instability before the slamming of a disk on water". Physical Review Fluids. 6 (4): L042001. arXiv:2106.09551. doi:10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.L042001.
  10. ^ Verhagen, J.H.G (1967). "The Impact of a Flat Plate on a Water Surface". Journal of Ship Research.
  11. ^ Asryan, N.G. (1972). "Solid plate impact on surface of incompressible fluid in the presence of a gas layer between them". Izv. Akad. Nauk Arm. SSR Mekh.
  12. ^ Ezell (1988) p. 143
  13. ^ Ezell (1988) p. 144
  14. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 145
  15. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 146
  16. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 147
  17. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 148
  18. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 159
  19. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 160
  20. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 161
  21. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 162
  22. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 163
  23. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 164
  24. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 165
  25. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 166
  26. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 167
  27. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 168
  28. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 188
  29. ^ Ezell, Volume II, p. 189
  30. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 83
  31. ^ Orloff, p. 58
  32. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 84
  33. ^ Orloff, p. 78
  34. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 85
  35. ^ Orloff, p. 98
  36. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 86
  37. ^ Orloff, p. 120
  38. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 87
  39. ^ Orloff, p. 143
  40. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 88
  41. ^ Orloff, p. 168
  42. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 89
  43. ^ Orloff, p. 197
  44. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 91
  45. ^ Orloff, p. 225
  46. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 92
  47. ^ Orloff, p. 251
  48. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 104
  49. ^ a b Ezell, Volume III, p. 105
  50. ^ Ezell, Volume III, p. 112
  51. ^ "ASTP Apollo Miss Distance", ASTP Summary Science Report - Mission Description p. 36, Archived 2010-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
  52. ^ "Cosmonauts Land in Lake, Blizzard". The Milwaukee Journal. UPI. October 18, 1976.
  53. ^ "NASA Astronauts in SpaceX Capsule Make First Water Landing Since 1975". The New York Times. August 2, 2020.
  54. ^ "SpaceX Dragon splashes down in Gulf of Mexico, bringing 4 astronauts home". Orlando Sentinel. May 2, 2021.
  55. ^ "SpaceX capsule returns four civilians from orbit, capping off first tourism mission". CNN.com. September 18, 2021.
  56. ^ Jackie Wattles. "SpaceX's wildly busy year continues with astronaut splashdown". CNN. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  57. ^ "Animals Survive 1,500-Mile Ride In Rocket Nose". The Windsor Daily Star. Windsor, Ontario. Associated Press. May 28, 1959.
  58. ^ "Big Joe Shot". nasa.gov. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  59. ^ "Monkey Completes Long Flight Aloft". Ellensburg Daily Record. Ellensburg, Washington. December 4, 1959.
  60. ^ "Man-In-Space Capsule To Be Closely Studied". The Florence Times. Florence, Alabama. Associated Press. December 20, 1960.
  61. ^ a b "USS Donner LSD20". Homestead.com. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  62. ^ "Chimp Survives Space Shot". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. February 1, 1961.
  63. ^ "Space Capsule Soars 107 Miles High". The Florence Times. Florence, Alabama. Associated Press. February 21, 1961.
  64. ^ "U.S. Robot Orbited, Returned". Meriden Journal. September 13, 1961.
  65. ^ "Capsule Trouble Forces Early Landing Of Craft". Toledo Blade. Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press. November 29, 1961.
  66. ^ "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)
  67. ^ a b c d Mansfield, Cheryl L. (January 9, 2018). "Apollo-Saturn Unmanned Missions". NASA.
  68. ^ "Titan 3 Gives Spectacular Space Show". Sarasota Journal. Sarasota, Florida. November 3, 1966.
  69. ^ Michael Cassutt (2007). Red Moon. Tom Doherty Associates. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-4299-7172-0.
  70. ^ "Zond 5, Landing Point, Miss Distance" Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, NASA Solar System Exploration - Zond 5, Landing Point, Miss Distance.
  71. ^ Brian Harvey (2007). Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-387-73976-2.
  72. ^ "Zond 8, Landing Point" Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, NASA Solar System Exploration - Zond 8, Splashdown area.
  73. ^ ""COTS 1 (SpaceX Dragon 1), Splashdown area"". Archived from the original on December 10, 2010.
  74. ^ "History is made as Dragon splashes down safely in the Pacific! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine". Blogs.discovermagazine.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  75. ^ "American Island". marinetraffic.com. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  76. ^ "Dragon Returns to Earth". NASA. October 28, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  77. ^ "SpaceX brings home Dragon with 2,700 pounds of cargo". Spaceflightnow. March 26, 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2013.

Bibliography

External links