Want A Job Catching Spacecraft With A Helicopter?
 

Sometimes you just wonder what kind of Cigarettes Rocket Scientists at NASA smoke!

Imagine....there you are in the Crew Room...Tea Cup in Hand....in walks the Chief Pilot.....who says..."Right Lad, off you go on the SS Minnow to do a mid-air catch of a Spacecraft re-entering Earth's Atmosphere!".


Helicopter to catch spacecraft slowed down by inflatable shell in NASA-funded project

Already done ! Not by me.
Not 3.5 tons but mid air catch of a spacecraft dummy.

Knowing with certainty exactly where the Space Craft is going to arrive is crucial.....and snatching 6000-7000 pounds will take large aircraft.....Blackhawk size or larger I would think.

You would need more than one....just in case the Recovery Aircraft developed a Snag that delays or prevents its take off.

That should be no problem in these days...

skadi

If the Helicopters launch but fail to catch it....and the capsule sinks....or if the parachute fails to deploy.....there is always this back up system.

Which to quote someone....that should not be a problem in these days.:E


https://www.space.com/17055-classifi...-recovery.html

They've been smoking those same cigarettes since the '60s. I seem to recall PHI snagging a few airborne space items for NASA back then. Catching a complete spacecraft should be interesting.
W1

Yes. Where do I apply?

It's been done before. It wen't horribly wrong, although nothing to do with the helicopter...
Genesis

https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/14...ncl-video.html

How did they get away with a five metre hook!

Thread drift; swanning around the AFWR in the Caribbean we came across a missile floating around, still attached to its parachute. Crew decision was that it would look like a pretty good trophy to take back to Ark Royal so we dug out the grappling hook and attached it to the winch whilst going into a hover, trawling the hook to catch the prize. No problems so far.

Clear to winch up, no problems. Then the downwash caught the parachute and things went pear shaped very quickly as ten ton of Sea King pulled sideways as fast as possible to avoid being downed by an angry parachute.

‘Get rid of it’ we cried from the front.

‘What, cut the cable’ from the back.

‘Don’t you dare cut the cable’, etc etc until the pull on the grappling hook was enough to straighten the prong and the chute fell off.

Very chastened crew made Charlie time and landed just far enough left of the spot to sneak the damaged hook off down the catwalk for a rabbit job to have it returned to a normal shape, and a lifelong respect for the vagaries of an inflated parachute anywhere near a rotor :eek: :hmm:

Oh it goes back muuuuch further than Genesis...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)

This thread is making my hair curl … but what fun!
I dropped Cassini/Huygens many times, but certainly never tried to catch it!