When a Dragon capsule is preparing to return to Earth, Megan or Shannon are dispatched to wait near the predetermined landing zone.

To support its mission, the vessel is equipped with a specialized crane on the stern to pull the capsule up from the water, a medical unit to treat astronauts, and a helipad to allow astronauts and any time-sensitive cargo materials returned from space to be quickly returned to shore.

[4] However, its sister vessel, MV GO Navigator (later renamed Shannon) was used to retrieve the astronauts after the Demo-2 flight.

[5] Between April 2019 and June 2021, GO Searcher was used in support of nine missions of the SpaceX fairing recovery program.

The vessel can accommodate a single Falcon 9 fairing half in the Dragon egress area.