FRIDAY FOTO (December 12, 2014)

Big Boat, Big Mission.

(U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Gary Keen)

An MH60-S Sea Hawk helicopter takes off from the amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) as part of at-sea training. Anchorage participated in the first Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) for the NASA Orion program. As you can see from the photo below, the training paid off.

EFT-1 is the fifth at-sea testing of the Orion crew module using a Navy ship’s well deck (the garage-like opening in the Anchorage’s stern) for recovery of the spacecraft that someday will take humans to Mars. The Sea Hawk is assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8.

Navy divers attach recovery lines to the Orion spacecraft crew module in the Pacific Ocean, Dec. 5, 2014. The lines were used to guide the capsule into the well deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage.
(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Paul Seeber )

Please click on the photos to enlarge the image. And before we start getting mail from all the Navy types out there: Yes, we know the Anchorage is a “ship” not a “boat.” Your 4GWAR editor was just exercising a little “alliterative license” in this post’s headline.