Yorktown Apollo Recovery (CVS 10) - Naval Cruise Book

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Apollo 8 Recovery Smooth The recovery portion of the Apollo 8 mission moved as smoothly as the entire manned lunar orbit. With astronauts Air Force Col Frank Bor- man, Navy Capt James Lovell, Jr., and Air Force Maj llater promoted to Lt Coll William Anders piloting their spacecraft through the final re-entry phase, the capsule splashed down in the Pacific, 1, 000 miles southwest of Hawaii, at 4:52 amfYorlctowntimej on Decem- ber 27, only 2 1X2 miles from this 25-year- old carrier. MOON LANDING PLANNED FDR i969 TheApollo 8 , predecessor to a planned 1969 landing on the moon, made the first landing in darkness since the space program began. ASTROVAUTS ARRLVE--Labouel Astronauts James Lovell LLP, Frank Borman Lwauingi, and William Anders IRI step from H5-4 helicopter after historic Moon orbit flight: while fbelowl astro- nauts Cfrom L to R2 Borman, Anders, and Louell are escorted down the flight deck between two rows of crewmembers by Capt Fifield. Phota above by Dr. jerry L. Walker of the Yorktown Dental Department. Page I2

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Apollo 8 covery ecember 27, 1968 --cl Sf' Wy, 14,9 A W Q -11,0 '39 awww Page 11 J Lil? . , :J

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Apollo 8 Recovery CREW SEES BEFORE DAWN RE-ENTRY Hundreds of the 1650-man crew saw the re- The astronauts looked fit and trim as they bounced out of the helicopter and strode down the red carpet on the flight deck between two rows of Yorktown sailors. After a few brief words by Apollo 8 Commander Borman, thank- ing the crew for giving up their Christmas at home to wait for their splashdown, the astro- nauts were taken down on the ship's elevator to the hangar deck, to go immediately below into sickbay. MEDICAL TESTS FOR FOUR HUURS entry of the space scraft, traveling at seven Various tests by the 17-man NASA medical mlles 3 Second through the 1' e 'ent1'Y Zone ' from team , under the direction of Dr. Clarence A. the flight deck and island structure. First to reach the capsule were three mem- bers of the Underwater Demolition Team 12 from the Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado , California. STG3 Bob Coggin was the first in the 7 8-de- gree water to attach a sea anchor. Ltjg R. J. Flanagan and SFC Don Schwab followed soon after. Ltj g Flanagan attached another sea anchor and then the three began to put the flo- tation collar in place. EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT IN CAPSULE After checking with the astronauts to make sure everything was alright, we just took our time and did the job right , stated Ltj g Flana- gan. The astronauts told the frogmen, over their intercom, to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. They expanded on their joke about the moon, saying , It' s not made of limburger cheese--it's made of American Cheese. The astronauts were brought to the F ighting Lady by a helicopter piloted by Cdr Don Jones , commanding officer of HS-4. Crewmembers on the helo were Lcdr Carl Frank, co- pilot, and AWC Norvel L. Wood and AW2 James B. Dor- sey, crewman. Chief Wood was first to visual- ly spot the spacecraft in the water. After be- ing greeted at the helicopter byJ ohn Stonesifer, senior member of the NASA recovery team, the first men ever to travel around the Moon were welcomed aboard the Yorktown by Capt J. G. Fifield. Jernigan, took over four hours. Dr. Jernigan stated that the space travelers were in excell- ent condition after there six-day mission. Twice the tests were stopped . . . Once while the astronauts got cleaned up and ate breakfast and again when they left sickbay to talk with PresidentJ ohnson, who congratulated them on their successful ten-orbits of the Moon. On their way to their quarters, in flag country, the astronauts stopped to view their charred spacecraft. They shared lunch with Capt Fifield in his inport cabin and spent the rest of the afternoon debriefing. After a for- mal dinner in the Wardroom with Capt Fifield and the officers of the Fighting Lady , the world' s latest heros met the crew on the han- gar deck for a re-enlistment ceremony and cake cutting party. SPACE TRAVELERS FLY T0 HAWAII The next morning the three astronauts were back in sickbay for more medical tests and then ate brunch in the Chief's Mess. They waved goodby tothe communications ship Arlington and the Yorktown crew before board- ing a plane that flew them 300-miles to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where they would boardaC-135 for the rest of the trip back to I Houston. - The Yo rktownbrought the silver-.gold color- ed space capsule back to Hawaii on December 29. , , The recovery operations were broadcast live in color throughout the world by the em- barked television pool. Page I 3