Petty Officer Reagan Vogel, a U.S. Navy aviation electrician’s mate, describes supporting NASA’s Artemis II recovery as a surreal, proud moment in her naval career.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Vancouver native Petty Officer Second Class Reagan Vogel, a U.S. Navy aviation electrician’s mate, said supporting the recovery of NASA’s Artemis II crew was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a proud moment after more than four years in the service.
Vogel was a 2021 Union High School graduate and said she joined the Navy looking for direction after high school and wanted to make her grandfather proud, describing the mission as both surreal and deeply rewarding.
She was among the sailors who helped support the recovery of the Artemis II crew and Orion space capsule after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. She said her group had spent years preparing and training for the mission before finally taking part in the actual recovery.
“I just remember feeling so excited because we had been a part of the work up to preparing and all of that. So being a part of the actual mission felt really good, and I was honestly really excited to be a part of it,” Vogel said.
She said watching the capsule come down was unforgettable.
“It was kind of surreal. When you watch something on TV and you think it’s really cool, then it’s like wow when it’s right in front of your eyes, there’s no screen between you and what’s happening, it’s kind of an amazing feeling,” she said.
Vogel said the ship she was stationed on was only a couple of yards away from the splashdown point, close enough to see the capsule hit the water and hear it make contact with the ocean.
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Generally speaking, Vogel described her job in the Navy as maintaining aircraft electrical systems.
“I’m an electrician’s mate, so my job as far as maintaining the aircraft has to do with any electrical components that we have — making sure that all of those systems that have to do with power supplies, our flight control systems, I make sure that those are working and running pretty smoothly so that our aircraft can fly safely,” she said. “It honestly went, couldn’t have been more perfect. It went exactly the way it was supposed to.”
The mission used two helicopters for the astronauts and two for imagery that tracked the capsule as it came down.
Vogel said the experience reinforced why she does the work she does. “Being part of this and just seeing that this is what we’ve been working towards, this is why I do what I do. I think it really instills an extra sense of pride in the work that I do on these aircraft,” she said.
Vogel said she joined the Navy because she wanted direction after high school and was inspired by her grandfather, who was also a Navy sailor and a major role model in her life. She said she wanted to do something that would make him proud and make her feel good about herself.
Looking back on her service, Vogel said the past four years have been a great experience. She said she never expected that joining the Navy would lead to recovering astronauts from a space capsule at sea, but she is grateful for the opportunity.
“I knew when I joined and I chose to be an AE (aviation electrician) that I knew I would be working on aircraft and I knew I would deploy, but I never thought that I would be on a boat, off the coast picking up astronauts out of a space capsule that just came from space,” she said.