The end of a revolutionary expedition
The end of a revolutionary expedition
On 24 July 1969 at 16:50 UTC – in the early hours of the morning local time – the Apollo 11 Command Module with the three astronauts on board splashed down in the western Pacific Ocean. Several helicopters had taken off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and navy divers immediately jumped from the helicopters into the ocean. They ‘boarded’ the capsule floating in the water, opened the hatch and helped the three somewhat exhausted but happy astronauts into inflatable boats. From there they were lifted into the helicopters and brought to the Hornet, which was 24 kilometres away. The mission lasted eight days.
