When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Steve Kapala, Jesse Wang, Vlad Link and Laddy Aldridge of the U.S. Navy dive medical team pose aboard the USS John P. Murtha ahead of Artemis 2 recovery operations in the Pacific Ocean. | Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class August ClawsonFour U.S. Navy divers were the first faces to greet NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts when they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after their historic journey around the moon this month.The dive medical team — Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Wang, Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Laddy Aldridge, Chief Hospital Corpsman Vlad Link and Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Steve Kapala — became the first people ever to enter NASA’s Orion spacecraft at sea to assist a returning lunar crew.AdvertisementAdvertisementOperating from the USS John P. Murtha, the dive team served as the critical first point of contact between spaceflight and recovery. They were tasked with opening the Orion spacecraft — which the Artemis 2 astronauts named “Integrity” — making initial medical assessments of the crew and helping them exit the capsule safely and efficiently, according to a statement from the U.S. military’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).The divers’ role marked a new step for Artemis missions. While Navy divers have long supported astronaut recoveries dating back to the Apollo program, Artemis 2 introduced a dedicated dive medical team trained to enter the Orion capsule itself. Each corpsman was assigned to one of the four astronauts — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen …
