Originally Posted by
TURIN
Good grief that took an age. Did it take that long to recover Apollo?
Space X has the right idea. Reverse the boat up to the capsule. Lift and load. Job done
The reentry velocity returning from lunar orbit is much higher. That might not make a difference, but other factors do.
One is that this was a test flight. NASA (at the press conference) stated that "underwater divers" had photographed the heat shield. The confirmation of safety factors (no hydrazine leakage for example) also takes time.
Also SpaceX is not coextensive with the United States; its accountability is fundamentally located in its financial performance. NASA is the United States, in the sense that its accountability is located upon the country itself. Move fast and break things doesn't necessarily work so well for a country. Especially with regard to human spaceflight, and even more so with unproven hardware, such as the Orion spacecraft including its service module.
This all said, when I saw the hatch had been opened and covered, I had the same kind of thought - seas are relatively calm now, but.......