posted 02-10-2023 03:32 PM               

Liliana Villarreal, NASA's new Artemis landing and recovery director, christened the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) with a champagne bottle during a naming ceremony at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 30, 2023.

The CMTA was named the Vehicle Advanced Demonstrator for Emergency Rescue, or VADER, and a small decal of Darth Vader is affixed to the spacecraft near its crew hatch.

VADER is being used to practice recovery after splashdown of the Orion spacecraft to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission.