Apollo 11's crew splashed down safely in the Pacific
On this day · 24 July 1969
After the first crewed Moon landing, three astronauts dropped from the sky into the Pacific and straight into a 21-day quarantine.
On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 command module Columbia splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 950 miles southwest of Hawaii, closing out the first crewed Moon landing. NASA records the return at 195 hours and 18 minutes after liftoff from Florida.
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were lifted aboard the recovery carrier USS Hornet, about 13 miles away. President Richard Nixon was on deck to greet them, though only through glass.
Fresh from the Moon, the crew climbed not into a parade but into a sealed trailer.
Fearing unknown lunar microbes, the astronauts donned biological isolation garments and entered a Mobile Quarantine Facility, their home for the next 21 days. The precaution proved unnecessary, but it underscored how little anyone yet knew about the Moon. With the splashdown, the goal of landing humans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth was, at last, complete.
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