Aztec to NASA
A small local company has made a splash around the world – literally. Aztec’s very own Jack’s Plastic Welding, well-known purveyor of rafts, paco pads, dry bags and other essential river gear, was tapped to supply the recovery rafts following splashdown of the Artemis II mission on Fri., April 10, on the waters off San Diego.
More than 500 hours of work went into each of the orange raft platforms, with Jack’s employees working alongside NASA engineers. “We’ve been working on this for four years, so it’s truly been an honor to actually see it being used,” Jack’s CEO TJ Garcia told Albuquerque KOAT News last week.
After splashing down, divers assisted astronauts in exiting the capsule and guided them onto the rafts. From there, they were lifted by helicopter to a nearby ship for medical evaluation, which fortunately meant they did not have to deal with groover duty or de-rigging.
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