Recovery of Apollo 11 Crew

Recovery of Apollo 11 Crew

Apollo 11 Recovery

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)

NASA

Apollo Project (U.S.)

Project Apollo (U.S.)

Apollo 11 (Spacecraft)

After successfully landing on the Moon, the crew of Apollo 11 splashed down in the North Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969, and were recovered by the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet and its crew. After the recovery crews secured the capsule, the astronauts got into quarantine suits, helped out of the capsule and awaited retrieval by helicopter. Apollo 11 was the first space mission where humans set foot on another celestial body, the Moon. Launched from Launch Pad 39A at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 fired the third stage engines two and half hours after launch to leave Earth's gravitational pull. The mission was highlighted by the first lunar landing by human beings and Mission Commander Neil Armstrong's (1930-2012) descent from the Lunar Module (LM) to place his foot on the surface of the Moon. He and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin (1930-) spent less than 22 hours on the Moon, including two and half hours outside Eagle, their Lunar Module. The crew, which also included Command Module Pilot Michael Collins (1930-), returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Original color photographic print, July 24, 1969: Leonard Pugh Collection.

1969-07-24

Digital reproduction of original color photographic print, July 24, 1969.

Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

image/jpg

248 KB

1 color photographic print

Still Image

North Pacific Ocean

Donation

History Teacher

Civics/Government Teacher

Copyright to this resource is held by Leonard Pugh and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Michlowitz, Robert

Cepero, Laura

"APOLLO 11 (AS-506)." National Air and Space Museum. Accessed July 10, 2015. http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo11.cfm.

1 color photographic print