San Diego, CA
NASA training off San Diego coast for next stage of Artemis mission to the moon
Off the San Diego coast, a team from NASA and the U.S. Navy are conducting critical astronaut recovery drills in preparation for the space agency’s first attempt in 50 years to transport humans to the moon.
This exercise, known as Underway Recovery Test 12, is essential to ensure that the splashdown and recovery of the Artemis II crew is carried out smoothly after the astronauts’ journey of more than 600,000 miles to the Moon and back.
The Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch in the coming months, will be the first crewed mission under NASA’s Artemis program. The first stage of the three-leg mission, Artemis I, was complted with an unmanned space vessel in 2022.
During this mission, the astronauts will travel approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon, making the crew on board the first to ever travel beyond the moon.
A Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 is seen as it lifts NASA astronaut Andre Douglas as teams practice Artemis recovery operations during Underway Recovery Test-12 onboard USS Somerset off the coast of California, Thursday, March 27, 2025. During the test, NASA and Department of Defense teams are practicing to ensure recovery procedures are validated as NASA plans to send the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) 2nd lift
Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
The recovery team, made up of highly trained personnel from NASA and the Department of Defense, have practiced the recovery operations to make sure the astronauts are safely and quickly recovered after splashdown in the Pacific. These drills include simulating real-life splashdown conditions, both day and night, and using inflatable rafts to assist in extracting the astronauts from the Orion capsule. The splashdown is expected to happen 60 miles off the Southern California coast, somewhere in between Catalina Island and San Clemente.
“These exercises are vital to the success of the Artemis II mission,” said Liliana Villarreal, NASA’s Recovery Director. “We ensure that every team member is prepared for any eventuality, guaranteeing the safety of our astronauts.”
The collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Navy is not new, but it is very important to the success of space missions. The capability of amphibious transport ships, such as the USS Somerset, provides the perfect environment for these complex operations, combining advanced technology with the expertise of highly trained sailors.
With the Artemis II mission, NASA aims not only to explore deep space but also to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon, with future mission plans that include the construction of the Gateway in lunar orbit. According to experts, these rescue drills are a crucial step toward that ambitious goal.
Artemis III is planned to be the second crewed Artemis Mission and the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.
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County leaders are keeping their options open for a future county-backed tax hike as a citizens coalition pushes a November sales tax measure.
Officials in late April quietly extended a contract with consultants tasked with researching and poll-testing potential county revenue options for a Board of Supervisors subcommittee led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe. The extension is for up to two years and the price tag remains up to $320,000.
Other county supervisors’ offices told Voice of San Diego they weren’t notified of the change – and one is now working on a policy proposal to force public updates on subcommittee-directed contracts.
County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said staff directed the contract extension “in consultation with the subcommittee” and based on prior board approval last September to create the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee. The item allowed the subcommittee to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to explore multiple options to increase county revenues and taxes.
An initial January 2026 contract called for Chula Vista-based Ironwood Public Affairs and four subcontractors including a prominent local Democratic campaign consultant to survey county residents, prepare revenue estimates for potential tax hike options, conduct focus groups and outreach and submit a report by May 1.
On April 30, county staff amended the contract with Ironwood to “deliver any requested ballot measure language, report, and presentations no later than June 30, 2028.”
Five days later, a coalition that includes labor groups and advocates submitted signatures to the county registrar’s office for a proposed countywide sales tax hike projected to raise $360 million annually to fund healthcare, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety. The registrar’s office has since confirmed the measure qualified for the November ballot.
Lawson-Remer has rallied behind the sales tax proposal and argued that a “local revenue measure” could shield the county from Trump administration-backed cuts. The county has projected that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost the county $300 million annually.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer’s office noted that a board majority voted last September to create the subcommittee and hire a consultant.
“With the Trump Administration threatening healthcare, food assistance, behavioral health, and other core services — and federal decisions being announced, reversed, paused, challenged, and revived in real time — the county and Fiscal Subcommittee has a responsibility to plan for multiple scenarios, including federal cuts, state shortfalls, taxpayer savings, state advocacy, and whether any local funding option does or does not materialize,” Lawson-Remer’s office wrote.
In a separate statement, Montgomery Steppe also pointed to board approval of the subcommittee and its work “evaluating fiscal risks and options to help inform future Board decisions.”
A few months after the September vote to approve the subcommittee, the county hired Ironwood Public Affairs led by former county staffer Victor Aviña. Aviña’s company subcontracted with prominent Democratic campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich’s company Amplify Campaigns, polling firm FM3 Research, Los Angeles revenue forecasting firm Economic & Planning Systems and Los Angeles-based law firm Kaufman Legal Group.
Glenn said the county has thus far paid Ironwood $96,000 for planning tasks that the initial contract said should be completed by early this year.
The county has yet to provide documents to Voice that the contractor submitted to the county about its work a month after a public-records request.
Spokespeople for the county’s three other elected supervisors said this week they weren’t notified about the changes to the contract.
Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, the two Republicans on the board, have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the subcommittees and consultants at least two of them have hired.
At an April board meeting, Desmond argued that subcommittees shouldn’t be allowed to spend county money or secure contracts without a review by the full board.
And Anderson has pushed for reforms to increase transparency for subcommittees that have met behind closed doors. The board on Thursday unanimously approved changes to make more of those meetings more public.
Anderson’s office said he is now working on a board proposal that, among other changes, would also require updates to the full board on work that outside consultants are doing for subcommittees. He expects to bring the proposal to the board in August.
“There’s no possibility of secrecy when a vendor/contractor reports to the entire board,” Anderson wrote in a statement.
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