Air Force, NASA team up to ready for America's return to human spaceflight

Master Sgt. Chris Seinkner, 308th Rescue Squadron, located at Patrick AFB, Fla., teams up with Tech. Sgt. Cameron Hystad, 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nev., to exercise egressing a “NASA astronaut” through the docking hatch (top hatch) of the Orion Capsule under the guidance of the 45th Operations Group’s Detachment 3 during a recent exercise at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, Texas. The Air Force and NASA work together to prepare for contingency landing site support, payload security, medical support, coordination of airlift/sealift for contingency operations, as well as other support services required in the event of a spacecraft emergency. Detachment 3 was chartered in 1959 by the Secretary of Defense as the DoD Mercury Support Office [later renamed DoD Manned Space Flight Support Office (DDMS)], its express purpose is providing DoD support to our nation's human space flight programs, putting people into space and returning them safely to Earth. (Courtesy photo/NASA)