Apollo 11 Intrigue
Returning from the Moon as heroes:
How to get
back to Earth
After making history on the Moon, the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on July 24, 1969
The conditions inside the command module during re-entry were surprisingly calm
“There wasn’t any sizzling, popping, or any noises that you commonly associate with entry heating,” said Collins
Hurtling through the atmosphere, the spaceship threw off sparks as its protective heat shield charred away. The spacecraft lost contact as it was surrounded by ionized gases from the heat of re-entry.
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin splashed down at 11:49 a.m. (CDT) on July 24, 1969, into the Pacific Ocean
About 812 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii
Nearby, the United States Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Hornet was waiting to receive the Apollo crew
Navy divers helped retrieve the astronauts, who were given isolation suits and picked up in a helicopter to be taken to the ship. But the adventure did not end there.
In case the Moon had any traces of biological pathogens, the returning astronauts had to stay in quarantine for 21 days
From outside the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF), President Nixon welcomed the astronauts back from their mission. In a first for NASA, the crew had to watch the traditional cake-cutting ceremony from inside the MQF.
The MQF was offloaded from the Hornet and flown to Houston, where the astronauts reunited with their wives at the window
Once in Houston, the crew were transferred into the Lunar Receiving Laboratory, where Armstrong celebrated his 39th birthday still under quarantine
The astronauts were celebrated with ticker-tape parades in New York City, Houston, and Chicago