Artemis II Crew Recovery

04.09.2026

Story by Lt. Erin Wile

The first face the Artemis II crew will see upon their return to Earth will be the face of a U.S. Navy Sailor.

Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Wang, Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Laddy Aldridge, Chief Hospital Corpsman Vlad Link, and Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Steve Kapala make up the dive medical team who will be the first to open the Orion capsule upon its return to Earth, make initial medical assessments of the Artemis II crew, and assist them out of the capsule safely and efficiently.

They will provide initial one-on-one assistance to Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover respectively. Training for this mission has been a years-long process between the four team members as the first-contact medical providers inside the capsule.

Often working in expeditionary warfare communities, Navy dive medical personnel are certified divers and undergo specialized training, making them experts in decompression illnesses and other undersea medical considerations. Their mission is to care for and ensure dive-qualified service members are safe to conduct diving operations.

Following Orion’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the medical team will enter the capsule to conduct initial exams for the crew, provide triage care as necessary, and assist the astronauts in egress onto the inflatable raft set up outside by Navy divers. The first-contact medical providers will then prepare the crew to be airlifted by Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 back to amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) for follow on evaluations.

Wang, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1, serves as the lead for the four-man team. From Laguna Beach, Calif., he is a board-certified emergency medicine doctor by trade, having completed residency training at Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, New York. He joined the Navy in 2021 and was designated as an undersea medical officer in 2024.

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