An EA-6B Prowler assigned approaches the flight deck USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on Feb. 24, 2013. US Navy Photo
The Navy has identified the three sailors killed in a Monday crash of an EA-6B Prowler near Harrington, Wash. Read More
Department of Defense spokesman George Little briefing reporters on review to the Distinguished Warfare Medal. Pentagon Channel
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is calling for a review of the ranking of a controversial new medal created to honor the contribution of unmanned vehicle pilots and cyber troops, a defense official told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More
USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) pulls away from Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story on March, 11 2013. US Navy Photo
Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group left Monday for a Middle East and Mediterranean deployment, the Navy announced. Read More
In 2014, a Navy ship will recover a NASA capsule from the first time since 1975.
The mission to recover the Orion will reestablish a relationship going back to the beginning of manned space flight.
The following is a brief illustrated history of the relationship of the Navy and NASA from Alan Shepard’s first flight into space to the Apollo moon missions, collected from the U.S. Naval Institute Archives.
Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is recovered from the South Atlantic in 1961. US Naval Institute Archives
A Marine helicopter lifts Liberty Bell 7 after recovering astronaut Gus Grissom, July 21, 1961. The helicopter was forced to release the capsule and allow it to sink after it became flooded with seawater. Liberty Bell 7 was recovered from the ocean floor in 1999. US Naval Institute Archives
USS Kearsarge after recovering Faith 7. May 16, 1963. Note the formation of sailors in the shape of the capsule. US Naval Institute Archives
Faith 7 being hoisted out of the water by the USS Kearsarge, May 16, 1963. US Naval Institute Archives
James A. McDivett is pulled from the Gulf of Mexico during Gemini 4 training, April 14, 1965. US Naval Institute Archives
Gemini 9 astronauts get picked up by the USS Wasp, July 30, 1966. US Naval Institute Archives
The USS Kearsarge celebrates its role in astronaut recovery with a banner, May 18, 1963. US Naval Institute Archives
Apollo 10, recovery. US Naval Institute Archives
Sailors on the USS Wasp hoist Gemini 9A aboard, June 6, 1966. US Naval Institute Archives
Decontaminating the Apollo 11 command module as the astronauts wait to be recovered, July 24, 1969. US Naval Institute Archives
Apollo 13 is recovered after its harrowing mission, April 17, 1970. US Naval Institute Archives
Pararescuemen from the USS Ticonderoga arrive at the spacecraft carrying astronauts from Skylab, June 22, 1973. US Naval Institute Archives
For more information on the Navy’s relationship to NASA, see MOON MEN RETURN: USS Hornet and the Recovery of the Apollo 11 Astronauts from the Naval Institute Press.
Artist conception of an Orion capsule being towed into the well deck of a San Antonio-class amphibious ship. NASA Photo
At the start of U.S. space flight, capsules from the Mercury to Apollo programs were plucked from the sea by Navy and Marine helicopters and taken back home on aircraft carriers.
Now the service and the space agency are renewing the relationship for the recovery of NASA’s Orion manned capsule with the latest class of amphibious warship, NASA officials told USNI News. Read More
The scene following the March, 11 crash of a EA-6B Prowler outside of Harrington, Wash. taken by Stan Dammel, manager of the nearby Odessa Municipal Airport.
Three are confirmed dead following a Monday crash of an EA-6B Prowler originating out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, according to local press reports. Read More
USS Miami (SSN-755) on March, 15 2012 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. US Navy Photo
The worker who caused an estimated $450 million in damages to the USS Miami (SSN-755) in May in a confessed act of arson faces sentencing on Friday, according to Associated Press. Read More
China is rejecting the U.N. Law of the Sea treaty. Xinhua Photo
On Jan. 22, Ma Keqing, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila and handed a note verbale informing her that the Philippines was initiating a legal challenge to bring China before an arbitral ribunal under the terms of the U.N. Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Read More
James Delgado
The Director of Maritime Heritage for the National Marine Sanctuaries Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, James Delgado is also the author of some 16 books and hundreds of articles on sea exploration and underwater archaeology. On the day of the interment at Arlington National Cemetery of remains from two crewmen who perished when the USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras in 1862, Delgado spoke with Proceedings Managing Editor Fred Schultz. Read More
Members of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard conduct a transfer of remains ceremony at Washington Dulles International Airport on March 7 for two sailors from the USS Monitor. US Navy Photo
The remains of two unknown sailors from the Civil War’s most iconic sea battle will be buried in Arlington today in ceremony marking the 151th anniversary of their most famous engagement, U.S. Navy officials told USNI News on Friday. Read More
