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.

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.

In our final installment of Q&A’s with candidates in the special election for Board of Supervisors, our Jim Hinch speaks to Carolina Chavez, a Chula Vista City Councilmember. 

Chavez was born in Tijuana in the early 1980s and grew up on both sides of the border. She started her career as a reporter, but then went on to work as an economic development liaison for several Baja California mayors. 

Chavez has also served on the board of directors for the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and emphasized her ability to bring businesses — and “good actors” — to the table in her interview with Hinch. Chavez also said she valued input from community members. 

When asked why she was running for supervisor, Chavez said she understood San Diego’s binational identity better than any other candidate — and would work to center that worldview in her policymaking. 

She also spoke on San Diego’s “super sanctuary” policy, homelessness, housing and the meaning of political parties in 2025.

Read the full Q&A here. 

Federal Public Health Grant Cuts Hit San Diego County

San Diego County learned last week that the Trump administration will likely pull back $40 million in public health grant funding.

The three impacted grants support more than 90 county positions in County Public Health Services focused on disease prevention and lab duties. They also fund $8.4 million in county-contracted work on vaccines, wastewater testing, rapid response epidemiology testing and more. Some of the grant dollars have also backed a new county public health lab that’s set to open in May and a mobile public health lab.

County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer assailed the cuts in a Thursday press release.

“We’re not talking about theoretical grants. We’re talking about the people who track outbreaks, test water after sewage spills, and sound the alarm when something’s wrong,” Lawson-Remer wrote in a statement. “This is how we protect lives.”

Lawson-Remer’s office said the county may now be “unable to equip or staff” the public health lab as planned. She also warned that vaccinations in homeless shelters, an updated county public health data system and the jobs of frontline disease investigators are also now at risk.

The supervisor said that the county is “currently assessing options to preserve core public health functions despite the sudden loss of federal funding.”

California is among the states that sued the Trump administration earlier this week to try to save some of the grant funds.

About the City’s Shuttered Motel Shelter

Last week, our Lisa Halverstadt revealed that the city is on the hook for $77,000 in monthly rent through June for a now-former motel shelter downtown. The city opted to close the shelter for homeless seniors due to costly building issues which led us to wonder: Has the city tried getting out of rent payments since it’s no longer using the property?

Here’s all city spokesperson Matt Hoffman would say on the matter: “The city is actively working with the property owner on this transition.”

The city’s lease provides a process to forgo rent payments when all or part of the motel building needs major repairs, but Hoffman wouldn’t clarify if the city has tried to take advantage of it.

Hotel Investment Group CEO Darshan Patel, whose company portfolio includes the Little Italy motel and who signed the 2022 city lease, didn’t respond to questions from Voice this week.

A few readers noted that Patel’s company listed the Pacific Highway property as a redevelopment opportunity last July. Per the LoopNet posting, “preliminary plans call for a 24-story, 234-unit luxury apartment tower.”

In an email to Voice of San Diego last Friday, Patel acknowledged his company listed the property for sale with a year left on the city’s lease but noted that “redevelopment properties of this sort are in escrow for years before the transaction closes.”

At the time of the listing, Patel wrote, a possible city lease extension was still on the table, but the city decided against moving forward. As of last Friday, Patel wrote that he wasn’t aware of “what areas of the building the city is or is not utilizing” that might set the stage for reduced rent and defended the building he’s been renting to the city.

“It is an older building so maintenance issues are to be expected; however, we do not believe there to be any issues with this building that are greater than those of similar size and age,” Patel said.

In Other News

The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.