USS Anchorage (LPD 23) Supports NASA's Orion Spacecraft Recovery Test

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES

01.24.2018

Story by Chief Petty Officer Martin Wright 

Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division

Sailors on board the San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock, USS Anchorage (LPD 23) are testing the Line Load Attenuating Mechanism Assembly (LLAMA), a device that helps line handling crews heave lines. In the case of the Orion Program test on Anchorage, it is the 20,000-pound Boilerplate Test Article, (BTA). According to Timothy Goddard, Orion Program Open Water Lead, the BTA replicates the weight, shape, and how the Orion capsule will float.

Working with NASA is a change of pace of for the Sailors on board Anchorage, “The highlight is seeing the look on the guys’ faces seeing all the different operations for the first time. Doing boat ops, seeing multiple boats in the water. Working with different forces. Working with SWCC, working with NASA. I think that was definitely the highlight. Seeing the capsule out on the water on its own and then we recover it, there’s a lot of work that goes into it. It’s definitely a fun experience.” Said Boatswain's Mate 3rd Class (SW) Emmanual Morgan.

When the Orion lands in the Pacific Ocean, the capsule will be hauled into the well deck of one of the Navy’s LPDs. These ships are designed to hold Marines and their equipment for amphibious operations. The after end of the ship can submerge allowing the Marines to disembark ashore in amphibious craft.

For the Orion Program, the crew will utilize the well deck to winch the 20,000 lb capsule aboard the ship.

With NASA’s LLAMA, the workload for the Sailors handling the capsule will be reduced, “The line handlers don’t have to fight 20,000. [With the LLAMA] maybe they only have 1,100 or a thousand pounds. It just makes their life a little easier.

With a unit on either side of the Anchorage’s well deck, the LLAMAs also prevent the capsule from hitting the sides of the ship, causing damage.

The testing of the BTA has combined the efforts of NASA, private industry and a variety of Naval units. This includes Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 3, The USS Anchorage, The USS New Orleans (LPD 18), 3rd Fleet, Special Boat Unit 12, and Fleet Combat Camera Pacific.

The U.S. Navy has supported astronaut and capsule recovery since the inception of manned space flight. The USS Lake Champlain (CV 39), recovered astronaut Alan Sheppard and the Freedom 7 capsule, May 5th 1961, after completion of NASA’s first manned space flight.

• Date Taken: 01.24.2018
• Date Posted: 02.06.2018 22:19
• Story ID: 265012
• Location: SAN DIEGO, CA, US