Choreographing astronaut recovery

Reentry, parachute-assisted splashdown and the recovery that follows are as critical as launch. Christine St. Germain, NASA recovery director for the Commercial Crew Program at Kennedy Space Center, leads NASA’s crew-recovery efforts and supports launch operations when needed.

She coordinates NASA’s role with commercial providers — currently SpaceX and Boeing — organizing team responsibilities, planning and training. On missions she serves as the boots-on-the-ground point of contact, able to give real-time input and speed decisions when concepts of operations change or requirements become uncertain.

Recovery planning begins at the start of a mission and includes contingencies such as early returns or a return after a fail-to-dock. Teams stay partially spun up so they can respond quickly and methodically; having checklists and rehearsed procedures helped when an early Crew-11 return required prompt action.

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