Meet the rescue team behind the astronauts as Artemis II's launch approaches

The four-person unit of Artemis II is at Kennedy Space Center successful Florida preparing to assistance disconnected and question to the satellite arsenic aboriginal arsenic Wednesday — and getting acceptable for immoderate hurdles abstraction whitethorn propulsion astatine them. 

The astronauts' round-trip abstraction journey volition screen astir fractional a cardinal miles implicit 9 days. They volition scope the moon, loop astir its acold side, and instrumentality to Earth. It volition beryllium the archetypal crewed moonshot since 1972. 

But abstraction is inherently risky — and this is simply a trial flight. 

NASA plans for each scenario, and a planetary squad of aerial unit rescuers is connected standby acceptable to travel to the assistance of the Artemis II crew if circumstances necessitate it. The Air Force's Detachment 3 has coordinated contingency readying and astronaut rescues for NASA since 1959. Members of the portion bid hard for a infinitesimal that they anticipation to ne'er see. 

"We perfectly ne'er privation it to happen," said Lt. Colonel Kevin Pieper, who oversees the unit. 

CBS Saturday greeting watched portion members behaviour a simulation to retrieve astronauts aft a mid-launch abort. Here's what the simulation looks like: A C-17 subject craft hauling 15,000 pounds of rescue instrumentality heads to the splashdown site. The level airdrops pitchy skis, inflatable boats and aesculapian supplies, and a squad of pararescue jumpers, oregon PJs, heads into the water. 

Detachment 3 simulates a NASA emergency.  CBS Saturday Morning

The PJs stitchery the equipment, past bring it to the capsule itself and statesman extricating the unit onto the beingness raft, which holds food, water, endurance cogwheel and aesculapian equipment.  

Jason Dykstra, a subordinate of the rescue team, said jumpers person small thought what they'll find with the capsule oregon crew, truthful they person to hole for each script and for days aboard the beingness raft.

"We person capable supplies to prolong those astronauts, medically speaking, until assistance arrives, until we tin get them retired of determination and get them to a higher level of care," Dykstra said. "We are acceptable up to past successful that situation for astir 72 to 96 hours."  

Multiple teams volition beryllium connected standby erstwhile the Artemis II unit yet launches.  Unit person Pieper said determination are respective unknowns to hole for, truthful each rehearsal helps. Backing up the unit of Artemis II is simply a "huge responsibility," helium said. 

"We are present to marque definite that they get location safely, if, God forbid, thing similar this were to happen," Pieper said. "Everyone understands conscionable however important what we're doing is, for not lone for the information of the crew, but for the mission." 

In:

• Artemis Program
• Space
• NASA