Elon / Starlink  uses boats.  Helicopters have the advantage of mobility, but the splashdowns are so accurate, big stable boats with lots of room for divers work fine.  Starship lands in the vast Indian Ocean but somehow the boats are right there.

Sandy Clark
208.651.7335


On Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 10:26:08 AM PDT, Michael Fuqua <michael.fuqua@gmail.com> wrote:


I had the same thoughts.  I hope the astronauts had barf bags!  It all seemed rather rube goldberg to me.  After such an amazing, imaginative, techologically incredible 10 days what we saw seemed right out of Apollo recoveries of the 1960s.  Okay…but they gotta find a better way.  Give the task to Elon….he would figure it out. :)

Mike

Michael Fuqua
michael.fuqua@gmail.com
858-382-3297



On Apr 11, 2026, at 10:14, mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com wrote:

Indeed, I did catch in one small live shot the birds were from HSC-23 Wildcards at North Island.
I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it must have been in that close capsule bobbing around so long before they even opened it up……..Obviousdly all a part of not loosing that capsule, bu  It seems to me they could have easily skipped it all and just moved the Murtha in close and let them tow this whole deal into the well and be done with it. So both recovery helos were flying without the left pilot’s door which I am guessing watching them blow the fancy raft for the astronaut recovery was so the left seat could fly the approach and hold a hover over till one of the boat swimmers grabbed the horse collar…..good illustration of why the swimmer removes the pilot to be recued from their raft so they do not geet chased all over the ocean as was the case here…mgb
 
 
From: ahaefner@aol.com <ahaefner@aol.com> 
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2026 8:48 AM
To: Jim Sr Sturges <jwsturges@gmail.com>; Marc Liebman <marc@marcliebman.com>
Cc: HeloBubbas <helobubbas@helobubbas.com>
Subject: [Helobubbas] Re: Artemis II landing
 
And the number of boats and number of people in the boats looked like Saturday morning during whale watching season off of Pr Loma. 
 

W/r, AL

 

On Friday, April 10, 2026, 7:22 PM, Jim Sr Sturges <jwsturges@gmail.com> wrote:

Looks like divers’ only job was to hook up the circular support and the front porch raft


On Apr 10, 2026, at 8:37 PM, Marc Liebman <marc@marcliebman.com> wrote:



Does anyone know why the divers weren’t put in the water via helo? It took forever for the boats to get out to the capsule. Way back when during Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, an H-3 arrived within seconds of the chutes leaving the capsule.

 

Marc Liebman

https://www.marcliebman.com

https://www.facebook.com/marcliebmanauthor/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_sDoFQM5wupNaCeGIvKL1g

 

Author of:

Cherubs 2                                                        Raider of the Scottish Coast                 

Big Mother 40                                                 Carronade

Render Harmless                                         Death of a Lady

Forgotten                                                         Last Battles

Inner Look                                                       For a Few Francs

Moscow Airlift                                              Predators

The Simushir Island Incident                Fight We Shall

Flight of the Pawnee                                  Failure to Fire

Insidious Dragon                                        The Red Star of Death

 

Member of:

The Author’s Guild                                    Military Writers Society of America

Association of Texas Authors              North American Snowsport Journalists Association

-- 

 

_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com
_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com
_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com
_______________________________________________
Helobubbas mailing list -- helobubbas@helobubbas.com
To unsubscribe send an email to helobubbas-leave@helobubbas.com