Space Travel, UDT Recovery

The National Aeronautics and Space Adminisration, NASA, was formed in 1958 and our space program began. The Mercury Project featured 6 flights between 1961 and 1963, whose mission was threefold. 1) Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth. 2) Investigate man's performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space. 3) Recover the man and the spacecraft safely. In July 1961, astronaut Virgil Grissom, a member of the Mercury Project, was successfully launched into space then rescued in the water but his capsule sank. NASA reported this: "Flight successful but the spacecraft was lost during the post landing recovery period as a result of premature actuation of the explosively actuated side egress hatch. The capsule sank in 15,000 feet of water shortly after splashdown. The astronaut egressed from the spacecraft immediately after hatch actuation and was retrieved after being in the water for about 3 to 4 minutes." That incident mandated a better, safer method of recovery.

Our Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams, UDT, were tasked with developing a safe, efficient recovery plan to insure future capsules would not sink. RD Russell was in UDT ELEVEN in 1962 as this training and recovery plan was developed. This photo shows RD standing beside the Mercury spacecraft mock-up, used for recovery training. This is not the actual capsule that went into space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although RD did not train for or participate in the actual recovery his UDT TWELVE teammate Nick Nickelson did. On May 16, 1963, three UDT 12 personnel recovered the one-man Mercury capsule by attaching a floatation collar to the capsule within minutes after it landed on target north of Midway Island.

 

As we watched Artemis II launch into space April 1, 2026, on its way to the moon and back with four astronauts aboard, RD reminisced about the early days of space exploration and was most curious about the recovery of the capsule and the four astronauts aboard. I chose this photo to illustrate the size of this 4-person capsule compared to the 1963 one-man Mercury capsule. Our Navy played a critical role in the successful recovery of the Orion capsule and the Artemis crew in the Pacific Ocean this April 2026, just as they did in the 1960s, a point of pride for this UDT veteran, RD Russell.