a11_v_c_o_AKP (July 26, 1969, unnumbered NASA photo)
“On the morning of July 26, Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor, 52 hours after Columbia was safely hoisted aboard – a journey only 6 hours shorter than Apollo 11’s trip back from the Moon! Sailors brought Columbia onto the flight deck so the assembled crowd of about 2,500 well-wishers could see it as the ship docked. Using a crane, workers lifted the MQF with the astronauts aboard onto a flat-bed trailer. [Hornet’s commanding officer Capt. Carl J.] Seiberlich joined Admiral John S. McCain, Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Command, Hawaii Governor John A. Burns, and Honolulu Mayor Frank F. Fasi for a brief welcoming ceremony including traditional Hawaiian flower leis, ukulele music and hula dancers. Workers drove the MQF to nearby Hickam AFB, where Air Force personnel loaded it onto a C-141 Starlifter…
…After the astronauts departed Hornet in Pearl Harbor, workers used a crane to lift Columbia from the carrier’s flight deck to the dock and towed it to an aircraft hangar on Ford Island, the remote location chosen because the spacecraft still contained some toxic propellants that workers drained to safe the vehicle. To preserve back-contamination protocols, Columbia’s hatch remained sealed since the flexible tunnel connecting it to the MQF was removed. On July 29, workers loaded Columbia and the backup MQF onto a C-133 Cargomaster aircraft at Hickam AFB. After a refueling stop on the West Coast, Columbia arrived at Ellington on July 31 and workers trucked it to the LRL, where it was towed inside the spacecraft room. The Apollo 11 astronauts retrieved personal items from the spacecraft and [NASA recovery engineer John K.] Hirasaki removed the spacesuits for postflight inspections.”
The above is paraphrased from the following. Despite the source, hopefully there’s a semblance of correctness & accuracy:
www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-11-returns-to-ho...
Additional pertinent & excellent photos:
projects.sfchronicle.com/2019/visuals/apollo-11/
Credit: San Francisco Chronicle website
I believe the USN officer to the right of the lady wearing the floral print dress (possibly his wife?), to be the USS Hornet’s commanding officer, Captain Carl J. Seiberlich. Additionally, the other USN officer on the right of that small group of VIPs may just be Admiral John S. McCain, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command…and father of the late Senator, and genuinely Honorable, John S. McCain III.
Continue to Rest in Peace All. Thank You for Your Service. Especially you Senator.
The aircraft with the distinctive radome is an E-1B Tracer. I wonder if the SH-3H Sea King on the far right is “Helo 66”.
a11_v_c_o_AKP (July 26, 1969, unnumbered NASA photo)
“On the morning of July 26, Hornet arrived at Pearl Harbor, 52 hours after Columbia was safely hoisted aboard – a journey only 6 hours shorter than Apollo 11’s trip back from the Moon! Sailors brought Columbia onto the flight deck so the assembled crowd of about 2,500 well-wishers could see it as the ship docked. Using a crane, workers lifted the MQF with the astronauts aboard onto a flat-bed trailer. [Hornet’s commanding officer Capt. Carl J.] Seiberlich joined Admiral John S. McCain, Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Command, Hawaii Governor John A. Burns, and Honolulu Mayor Frank F. Fasi for a brief welcoming ceremony including traditional Hawaiian flower leis, ukulele music and hula dancers. Workers drove the MQF to nearby Hickam AFB, where Air Force personnel loaded it onto a C-141 Starlifter…
…After the astronauts departed Hornet in Pearl Harbor, workers used a crane to lift Columbia from the carrier’s flight deck to the dock and towed it to an aircraft hangar on Ford Island, the remote location chosen because the spacecraft still contained some toxic propellants that workers drained to safe the vehicle. To preserve back-contamination protocols, Columbia’s hatch remained sealed since the flexible tunnel connecting it to the MQF was removed. On July 29, workers loaded Columbia and the backup MQF onto a C-133 Cargomaster aircraft at Hickam AFB. After a refueling stop on the West Coast, Columbia arrived at Ellington on July 31 and workers trucked it to the LRL, where it was towed inside the spacecraft room. The Apollo 11 astronauts retrieved personal items from the spacecraft and [NASA recovery engineer John K.] Hirasaki removed the spacesuits for postflight inspections.”
The above is paraphrased from the following. Despite the source, hopefully there’s a semblance of correctness & accuracy:
www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-11-returns-to-ho...
Additional pertinent & excellent photos:
projects.sfchronicle.com/2019/visuals/apollo-11/
Credit: San Francisco Chronicle website
I believe the USN officer to the right of the lady wearing the floral print dress (possibly his wife?), to be the USS Hornet’s commanding officer, Captain Carl J. Seiberlich. Additionally, the other USN officer on the right of that small group of VIPs may just be Admiral John S. McCain, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command…and father of the late Senator, and genuinely Honorable, John S. McCain III.
Continue to Rest in Peace All. Thank You for Your Service. Especially you Senator.
The aircraft with the distinctive radome is an E-1B Tracer. I wonder if the SH-3H Sea King on the far right is “Helo 66”.