Apollo Artifacts

Hornet Plus Three: The Story of the Apollo 11 Recovery

Since today is the 40th anniversary of the splashdown and recovery of Apollo 11 in the Pacific Ocean, I am thrilled to have a guest post by Bob Fish, author of the book Hornet Plus Three: The Story of the Apollo 11 Recovery. I enjoyed this book very much.

Bob is a Trustee and the Apollo curator for the USS Hornet Museum, which is located in Alameda, CA. The Hornet recovered both 11 and Apollo 12 in 1969. The USS Hornet Museum includes a number of very unique artifacts - Apollo 14 Mobile Quarantine Facility, flown Apollo command module (Block-1 unmanned), Biological Isolation Garment, SH3D Seaking helicopter.

The public is generally aware of President Richard Nixon's activities during the Apollo 11 recovery process only during the widely-televised "welcome home" ceremony for the three astronauts. The reality is different...

Here's Bob’s account of what happened:

On July 23, the President and his party (which included Secretary of State William Rogers, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, Apollo 8 astronaut Colonel Frank Borman, White House Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman, White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler, and two others) flew from Honolulu to Johnston Island aboard Air Force One. There, the entourage transferred to two HMX-1 squadron helicopters and were ferried a couple hundred miles south to the USS Arlington, a Navy major communications relay ship. The presidential helicopters landed on the ship's antenna deck at 5:30pm (ship time) and shortly thereafter, President Nixon spoke to an assemblage of crewmen. He later toured the ship, chatted with many sailors, and had a light dinner before turning in for the night. Photo: President Nixon's arrival onboard the USS Arlington as he walks with CO Captain Hugh Murphree.

The group arose early the next morning and flew over to the USS Hornet by HMX-1 helicopter, arriving less than an hour before Columbia splashed down. He watched the recovery operation from the ship's island (superstructure) before descending into hangar bay 2 for the welcome home remarks. Just minutes after that televised ceremony, watched by 500 million people, President Nixon and his group departed the ship and flew back to Johnston Island. They boarded Air Force One and began the next leg of their worldwide tour. All in all, Nixon had been in the recovery area for about 18 hours with just the three most historically-eventful ones on the USS Hornet.

President Nixon was in very high spirits the entire time. During his stay on the Arlington, he spent the night in the Commanding Officer's stateroom. After the group had left the morning of the splashdown, Captain Hugh Murphree walked into his cabin and found a handwritten note from the president, scrawled across the "plan of the day". Click image to enlarge.

On the Hornet, the President was clapping people on the back, swapping jokes with the sailors, etc. It was not just about "politics" though he was keenly aware this amazing technological and scientific achievement placed the US in a position over the Soviets for world leadership. As a former naval officer, he really enjoyed being on Navy ships again. And, he was in the middle of the Pacific, away from most of the press, all the protestors, the spin-doctors of DC etc.

Thanks Bob for sharing the story and images on such an important anniversary.

Apollo Spacecraft News Reference for Lunar Module and Command Module

These Apollo News Reference Manuals were used by journalists who covered the Apollo program. It took me four years to acquire a pair as these manuals have become highly sought after. The pair include almost 500 pages of in depth detail about the Apollo spacecraft in the words of the contractors who built them.

Chapters include: Crew Systems, Displays and Controls, Docking, Earth Landing, Electrical Power, Environmental Control, Launch Escape, Reaction Control, Service Propulsion, Stabilization & Control, Telecommunications, Guidance & Navigation, Space Suit, Automatic Checkout Equipment, Kennedy Space Center Operations, Training Equipment, Test & Reliability, Manufacturing, Launch Vehicles, Mission Description, Crew Personal Equipment, Propulsion, Electrical Power, Lighting, PLSS, LM Anatomy, Biographies and more.

Contractor press kits relating to the Apollo 11 mission

 

I've worked in marketing and PR my entire career and am fascinated by the press kits put out by NASA and by the contractors. I was fortunate to have acquired a set of complete press kits used by a journalist while covering the Apollo 11 mission. Included are press kits from IBM (Computer systems), North American Rockwell (Command Module), Grumman (Lunar Module), TRW (Engines), and several other kits not pictured here.

Chariots for Apollo: A history of manned lunar space missions

Chariots for Apollo: A history of manned lunar space missions (by Courtney G. Brooks, James M. Grimwood, and Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., NASA History Series SP-4205, first edition, 1979) is the definitive NASA account of the Apollo program.

This was the personal copy of Laurence K. Loftin, Jr. In 1970 Loftin held the position of Director for Aeronautics at the Langley Research Center and he was chief Aeronautical Engineer at Langley from July 1972 until his retirement from NASA in December 1973.

10:56:20 PM EDT 7/20/69 CBS News book

This awkwardly titled book is a limited edition that was produced by CBS News for distribution to VIPs, advertisers, and affiliate executives. It provides an excellent overview of the historic conquest of the moon as reported to the American people by CBS News over the CBS Television Network. The images are all television screens and the text is all on-air dialog from Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, special correspondent Wally Schirra and many others.

Inside the book is the business card of Frank Stanton, President of CBS and a personal note "This limited edition is the record of how CBS News met the most demanding challenge yet put to electronic journalism. We publish it with pride—in the accomplishment of Apollo 11 that we share with all Americans and the pride of achievement that we at CBS count among the great chapters in our history."

Of a Fire on the Moon

Of a Fire on the Moon is a fascinating synthesis of science and literature about the flight of Apollo 11 written from the unique vantage point of one of America’s premier literary journalists. This is a signed first edition, Little Brown, 1970. Mailer hung around Houston and the Cape for months to do his original reporting. Some may feel the book lacks depth or is overly cynical. But I really like Mailer’s wit, penetrating insight and philosophical scope.

Apollo post mission booklets

The NASA press office prepared post mission booklets for each Apollo mission. They include photos and technical data. These are a great way to get the basics of each mission.

Apollo mission press kits

Prior to each mission, the NASA press office prepared detailed (100 page plus) press kits for the journalists who covered the missions. These original kits are fascinating in the detail provided. I have an original copy of each Apollo moon landing mission press kit except Apollo 12 and Apollo 13. Let me know if you have an extra one from either of those missions to sell.

KSC launch badges

These interesting plastic launch badges denoted various levels of access to Kennedy Space Center locations during the launch of the Apollo Saturn I and Saturn V vehicles.

NASA books

The official NASA publications are a great resource. Some have become quite rare.