Megan

SpaceX

Megan arrives at Port Canaveral with a Dragon capsule – Jenny Hautmann

Megan (previously named GO Searcher) served as a SpaceX Dragon recovery vessel, based out of Port Canaveral, Florida, from 2016 until its retirement from SpaceX operations in June 2025. The ship was named after Megan McArthur, the second female NASA astronaut to fly on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Beginning its tenure with SpaceX in 2016 as a fairing recovery and operational support vessel, Megan transitioned to Dragon capsule recovery in 2018 as SpaceX intensified its focus on developing the Commercial Crew Program under contract with NASA. Following a drydock and maintenance period in mid-2018, Megan was extensively refitted for this new role, with additions including a medical treatment facility, a helipad, and advanced communication radars. A large lifting crane was also installed on the stern of the vessel to hoist the capsule from the water.

Megan operated in the Dragon Recovery ship role in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico until March 2025. The ship’s final mission was the splashdown of Crew-9 in the Gulf of Mexico on March 9th.

In July 2024, SpaceX announced its intention to shift Dragon recovery operations from 2025 to the U.S. West Coast and the Pacific Ocean. This decision was made in response to concerns about Dragon trunk debris potentially landing over populated areas. SpaceX’s other Dragon Recovery ship, Shannon, was consequently repositioned to the Pacific Ocean at the end of 2024 to support this change. Following the final East Coast splashdown, Megan became operationally redundant, as SpaceX no longer required two recovery ships on the West Coast due to the close proximity of planned Dragon splashdown sites.

Megan departed Port Canaveral for the final time on June 18, 2025. SpaceX officially confirmed the ship’s retirement on June 27th. According to administrative paperwork, the vessel is currently laid up in Louisiana.

NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur onboard her namesake ship – @Astro_Megan

Megan operated in the Dragon Recovery ship role in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico until March 2025. The ship’s final mission was the splashdown of Crew-9 in the Gulf of Mexico on March 9th.

In July 2024, SpaceX announced its intention to move Dragon recovery operations to the U.S. West Coast and the Pacific Ocean from 2025 in response to concerns about Dragon trunk debris landing over populated areas. SpaceX’s other Dragon Recovery ship, Shannon, was repositioned to the Pacific Ocean at the end of 2024 to support this change. Following the final East Coast splashdown, Megan became operationally redundant as SpaceX didn’t require two recovery ships on the West Coast due to the close proximity of planned Dragon splashdown sites.

Megan departed Port Canaveral for the final time on June 18, 2025. SpaceX confirmed the ship’s retirement on June 27th. According to administrative paperwork, the ship is currently laid up in Louisiana as of Summer 2025.

Great job to all who sailed on M/V Megan and made the @SpaceX human spaceflight program truly unique! We chartered Megan, then GO Searcher, in 2016 to learn how to recover payload fairings. After extensive modifications to support Dragon, we learned how to recover astronauts… pic.twitter.com/JQnDOg6Doh
— Kiko Dontchev (@TurkeyBeaver) June 27, 2025

Megan began preparing for Dragon recovery operations as early as 2017, undergoing countless hours of training and upgrade work. The vessel played a starring role during the first flight of Crew Dragon, recovering the capsule from the Atlantic Ocean after its week-long stay at the International Space Station.

The vessel recovered Crew Dragon for a second time during the In-Flight Abort test mission, where SpaceX purposefully destroyed a booster to test that Dragon’s escape system worked as designed.

Once converted for the role, Megan and its twin ship, Shannon, both continued to participate in extensive training and rehearsals in advance of every Dragon mission. Before the initial Dragon flights, SpaceX completed countless hours of preparation with these vessels.

Medical evacuation training demonstration – NASA

Following the splashdown of a Dragon capsule, recovery teams in small, fast-approach boats begin their work around Dragon. Lines deployed from Megan are connected to the capsule. The first priority is to perform safety checks for the presence of hypergolics and ensure crew welfare. Once these checks are complete, the capsule is rigged to allow it to be hoisted onto the recovery ship.

NASA requires SpaceX to egress astronauts from Dragon within 60 minutes of splashdown. While the Dragon recovery operation is ongoing, other fast boats work to collect the parachutes from the ocean surface and haul them onboard.

Megan recovers Crew Dragon following the Inspiration-4 mission – SpaceX

Once Dragon has been raised onto the recovery ship, astronauts are helped to exit the capsule and taken to the onboard medical facility for checkouts. A helicopter then lands on the vessel to transport them back to land. For Cargo Dragon operations, a helicopter is also used to quickly transport time-sensitive cargo back to Kennedy Space Center.

Megan first recovered a Dragon with Astronauts onboard on September 18th, 2021, during the Inspiration4 mission.

Megan at sea – NASA

Fairing Recovery

When needed, Megan occasionally filled the role of fairing recovery. The vessel is designed to accommodate a single Falcon 9 fairing half onboard, typically in the Dragon egress area.

Notably, between April and May 2019, the vessel was temporarily reassigned to fairing recovery operations. Alongside Shannon, Megan was fitted with inflatables and deployed to retrieve fairings during the ArabSat-6A and Starlink 0.9 missions. Megan was successful on both occasions, delivering an intact fairing half back to Port Canaveral upon the conclusion of both missions.