The Amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) will recover the Orion space capsule later this year.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christine Montgomery/Released)
During the original space race in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States Navy’s aircraft carriers were often tasked with recovering the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo mission space capsules. The flattops were very well-suited to the task as they provided a secure and heavily resourced platform, offering logistical and medical facilities for the astronauts and the recovered capsules.
However, an aircraft carrier isn’t being deployed this coming Friday to serve as the recovery ship for the Orion spacecraft and its crew upon their return from the historic Artemis II mission.
Instead, the U.S. Navy announced that the USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) will take on that role.
The Artemis II mission successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida on April 1, 2026, becoming the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. It sent the four astronauts on the approximately 10-day journey that has already taken them beyond the Moon.
The mission also mark humanity’s first crewed voyage to the vicinity of the Moon in more than 50 years, and current plans call for the Orion capsule to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where USS John P. Murtha and its crew will be prepared to recover the astronauts and the space capsule, the U.S. Navy has confirmed.
There are several factors at play for why an aircraft carrier isn’t being used to recover the Orion capsule, with the most obvious being that the U.S. Navy doesn’t have one available. However, by the end of the Apollo program, the service had already begun to use amphibious assault ships in space capsule recovery.
As the U.S. Navy noted, the USS John P. Murtha will take on the task as well and perhaps even better than the old carriers during the Cold War-era. LPD-26 “has unique advantages, including a well deck, helicopter pad, onboard medical facilities, and communication capabilities needed to support the mission.”
MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23, operating from LPD-26, will also be able to provide imagery support for NASA by tracking the Orion space capsule as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere.
“After splashdown, HSC-23 helicopters will recover the astronauts once they exit the capsule and bring them to the ship for assessment and then transport them to shore,” the Navy added.
In addition, U.S. Navy divers from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1 (EODGRU-1), who are experts in mobile diving, salvage, towing in open water, will recover and transport the Orion space capsule from the ocean to the ship’s well deck. EODGRU-1 will further support the recovery mission with a dive medical team, who can assess and assist the Artemis II astronauts following their exit from the capsule.
Sailors assigned to amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) and NASA engineers prepare to release a crew module test article from the ship’s well deck, Jan. 26, 2026.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jomark A. Almazan)
LPD-26, the 10th San Antonio-class amphibious dock ship, was named to honor the late and long-serving Pennsylvania Congressman John P. Murtha (1932-2010), a former United States Marine Corps officer and the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It is a fitting tribute to Congressman Murtha, who dedicated his life to serving our nation, that the ship bearing his name will be integral to this historic moment in space exploration,” said Capt. Erik Kenny, commanding officer of USS John P. Murtha. “He was a champion for our military and a visionary. We are honored to carry on his legacy by supporting NASA and the Artemis II mission.”
Astronaut Alan Shepard and the Freedom 7 space capsule sit on the deck of the USS Champlain aircraft carrier after the completion of the Mercury 3 mission which was the first U.S. manned spaceflight.
Bettmann Archive
The USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39), an Essex-class aircraft carrier that was commissioned at the end of the Second World War, was the prime recovery ship for Freedom 7, the first crew Project Mercury mission on May 5, 1961. CVS-39 later served as the recovery ship for the unmanned Gemini 2 in January 1965 and then for the crewed Gemini 5 in August 1965.
Several other Essex-class aircraft carriers also played a role in the U.S. space program, including the USS Intrepid (CVS-11), which recovered Mercury-Atlas 7 and Gemini 3; the USS Wasp (CVS-18), which performed multiple Gemini recoveries; and USS Hornet (CVS-12), which recovered Apollo 11 and 12, the first and second manned missions to the moon.
The Apollo 13 astronauts stride on a red carpet aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Iwo Jima after their splashdown in the Pacific.
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amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) served as the primary recovery ship for Apollo 13 in April 1970. That mission has been deemed a “successful failure” in that the crew was forced to circle the moon without landing following an oxygen tank explosion.
LPH-2 was the lead vessel of the U.S. Navy’s first class of assault ships to be designed and built from the keel up as a dedicated helicopter carrier, and it was deemed more cost-effective for NASA and the U.S. Navy than employing the larger carriers of the era. Still, it was the Essex-class USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) that served as the recovery ship for Apollo 17, the 11th and final manned moon mission, in December 1972.
The Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship USS New Orleans (LPH-11) recovered the final Apollo command module that was used in the July 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
Nearly five decades passed during which time the U.S. Navy didn’t take part in such recovery missions. That is because from the end of the Apollo program until the 2020s, NASA used its famed Space Shuttle, which landed on a runway, or the Russian Soyuz capsules which touched down on land.
It wasn’t until just over a decade ago that the U.S. Navy and NASA began to develop new recovery procedures with the development of the Orion capsule. On December 11, 2022, following the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission around the moon, the San Antonio-class amphibious dock ship USS Portland (LPD-27) was used to retrieve the capsule in the Pacific Ocean.
On Friday, USS John P. Murtha will become just the latest U.S. Navy vessel to have recovered a space capsule.
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