USS Hornet (CV-12)

Hornet mission change from war to recovery 

In May 1969, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet CVS-12 returned to the US after a six-month tour of duty off the coast of Vietnam. Just weeks later, the U.S. Navy selected Hornet as the prime recovery ship for Apollo 11, still the most complex recovery in NASA spaceflight history. Once assigned to Task Force 130, which handled Pacific Ocean spaceflight recoveries, Hornet’s Commanding Officer Captain Carl Seiberlich also became the Commander of all recovery forces in the primary landing area.  

While still docked in its Long Beach home port in mid-June, Hornet loaded initial NASA and news media equipment, such as satellite earth terminals on the flight deck and large TV tractor trailers in the hangar deck. 

Motto: Hornet Plus Three 

For the recovery operation, Capt. Seiberlich adopted the motto “Hornet Plus Three,” a safety message that all the personnel aboard the ship, plus the 3 astronauts, would return safely from the mission.  

To Pearl 

On June 26, Hornet headed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After leaving port, 8 SH-3D Sea King helicopters from Antisubmarine Warfare Squadron 4 (HS-4) landed onboard along with 4 E-1B Tracers from VAW-111, and 2 C-1A Traders from VR-30.  The USAF also had several aircraft supporting this recovery operation from bases in Hawaii.  

After arriving at Pearl Harbor on July 2, a boilerplate Apollo capsule was craned aboard the ship to be used for recovery practice sessions called SIMEXs.  The 35-member NASA recovery team, and roughly 140 media personnel were also brought onboard.  The Hornet team consisted of 90 personnel who were given specific recovery assignments.  

Protection from possible moon germs 

A detachment of 12 swimmers from the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams 11 and 12 embarked as well. LT Clarence “Clancy” Hatleberg served as the detachment commander, as well as the decontamination swimmer (a completely new NASA requirement). Members of the UDT team had gained valuable experience with the Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 recoveries in the prior 6 months. Clancy had also participated in the NASA astronaut water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico in May and his team was determined to ensure success. 

Two NASA Mobile Quarantine Facilities (MQFs) were also craned aboard Hornet. MQFs were heavily modified Airstream trailers designed to biologically isolate its occupants from the outside environment. The primary MQF would house the returning astronauts, a flight surgeon, and an MQF engineer after the splashdown until their arrival at the Lunar Receiving Lab in Houston several days later. The second MQF served as a backup should it be necessary for any reason.  

On Station to the recovery spot 

On July 12, Hornet departed Pearl Harbor, heading south to the equator. By July 16, the date of the Apollo 11 rocket launch, she was “on station” just east of the Phoenix Islands in case of a launch abort. After the spacecraft entered a lunar orbit trajectory, Hornet slowly steamed northwest towards the NASA selected splashdown site with a scheduled date of July 24. 

During this 8-day period, Hornet conducted many SIMEXs, night and day, to ensure that every crewman understood his role and there was a trained backup for every potential problem that might arise.  

On July 23, Hornet was “on station” at the primary landing site when NASA decided the weather conditions were unsafe there and relocated the splashdown point 240 miles northeast. Hornet refueled from the fleet oiler USS Hassayampa AO-145 and then sped northeast at flank speed through the night. Hornet arrived at the actual splashdown location 920 miles southwest of Hawaii at 1:30am the next morning.  

The Recovery 

The recovery activities of July 24 began before dawn. Hornet’s primary aircraft, consisting of 4 helicopters and 2 fixed wing aircraft, were launched by 4:45am, to clear the air space for the arrival of President Richard Nixon and his entourage. This HMX-1 helicopter transit was a short flight as the dignitaries had spent the previous night on the USS Arlington AGMR-2, just a few miles away. Marine One landed on Hornet’s flight deck at 5:04am. According to his Naval Aide, LCDR Charles Larson, the President greatly enjoyed his 3 hours aboard the ship.  

The night sky was just starting to lighten as the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia descended under its 3 giant orange and white parachutes. The spacecraft splashed down at 5:50am (ship time) about 12 miles downwind from Hornet. The astronauts reported via radio that they were in good shape. However, a gust of wind billowed the parachutes and tugged the spacecraft into a Stable 2 position, which means “stable – but upside down.” 

Columbia’s uprighting system, 3 large inflatable bags, adjusted the spacecraft into a Stable 1 (upright) position in 8 minutes. Once the CM was upright, the first UDT swimmer jumped from his helicopter and attached a sea anchor to the CM, slowing down its drift rate in the high sea state conditions.  Minutes later, two more UDT swimmers jumped from their helicopter to attach and inflate a flotation collar to the CM, as well as inflating two work rafts. 

Hatleberg, the UDT decontamination swimmer, then jumped from the primary recovery helicopter #66 (call sign RECOVERY ONE). Once his decontamination equipment was dropped from the helicopter, he began the initial NASA quarantine process. As part of the quarantine program, NASA had created special Biological Isolation Garments (BIG) that would completely encase a human from head to toe. So, the first step for Clancy was to don his own BIG suit. He then opened the CM hatch and threw in three sets of BIGs that had been tailored to fit each astronaut.  

When the hatch was opened again at 6:30am, the three astronauts egressed one at a time into the “decontamination raft.” Hatleberg helped them balance in the choppy seas as they stepped out – Neil Armstrong first, Michael Collins second and Buzz Aldrin third.  After the hatch was closed and locked, Hatleberg used a wash mitt soaked in betadine to wipe the vents and hatch on the CM to kill any moon germs. 

Then, Hatleberg turned his decontamination effort to the astronauts. Using a sodium hypochlorite solution (aka bleach), he wiped down the BIG suit of each astronaut. In turn, one of them wiped down his BIG as well. The first stage of the NASA astronaut quarantine process was complete. 

RECOVERY ONE was then positioned 40 feet above the decontamination raft and lowered a Billy Pugh rescue net. Neil Armstrong, seated in the back of the raft, inserted himself first and was winched up to the open cargo hatch of the Sea King helicopter.  Collins was next, followed by Aldrin. They were met by NASA flight surgeon Bill Carpentier who asked about their health. Once they were seated in the cargo bay, CDR Don Jones piloted helicopter #66 to a perfect landing on Hornet’s flight deck at 6:57am. 

RECOVERY ONE was lowered by an aircraft elevator to the hangar deck and towed into position adjacent to, and 30 feet from, the primary MQF. Once inside, Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin changed into NASA flight suits. Joining the 3 astronauts in “lock-down” were Dr. Bill Carpentier and the MQF Technician John Hirasaki. At 7:55am they proceeded to the window in the back of the MQF to be welcomed home by President Nixon, a ceremony that was broadcast on live TV to 500 million viewers worldwide. 

At 8:50am, after the President left the ship for his worldwide tour, the Hornet team hoisted Columbia out of the water by crane and onto elevator 3, from which it was towed it to a spot next to the MQF.  The CM hatch was connected to the MQF door by way of a hermetically sealed plastic tunnel. The astronauts and John Hirasaki then transferred photographic film, containers laden with 48 pounds of moon rocks, space suits and other items into the MQF. The moon rocks were put in special containers and passed out of the MQF via a decontamination lock and flown that day to the NASA Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston for initial evaluation.  

Hornet Plus Three to Pearl 

Meanwhile, Hornet set a course for Pearl Harbor with 5 people locked inside the MQF. Several medical tests were performed on the astronauts during the 52-hour transit, as well as having them record their personal recollections about the flight and catch up on world news.  

Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor Naval Base at 8:50am on July 26. The sealed MQF was soon lifted onto a USAF cargo pallet loader by a dock yard crane and transported 50 feet to a cheering pier-side crowd of 2,000 people including Honolulu’s mayor and a few Navy dignitaries. The pallet loader then carried the MQF to Hickam AFB where it was loaded in the cargo hold of a C-141 and flown to Houston. 

Shortly thereafter, Columbia was craned off the Hornet’s flight deck and transported to a nearby hangar to be processed for its flight to Houston a few days later.  

Mission Accomplished! 

Navy contributions to the American space program made breakthroughs like Apollo 11 possible. The priority of the Apollo missions was not simply to put men on the Moon in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 challenge also included the phrase “and return them safely back to Earth.”  The USS Hornet (CVS-12) successfully completed one of the most momentous technological feats in all human history.