Page 50 - The Appollo Story

-------------t The Apollo Story1------------

Apollo 11 (AS-506) - The Eagle Has Landed
Splashdown: On July 24, the astronauts returned home aboard the command module Columbia just before
dawn local time in the Pacific Ocean 1,440 nautical miles (2,660 km) east of Wake Island, 210 nmi
(380 km) south of Johnston Atoll, and 13 nmi (24 km) from the recovery ship, USS Hornet. At 16:44
UTC the drogue parachutes had been deployed and 7 minutes later the command module struck the water
forcefully. The command module landed upside down but was righted within 10 minutes by flotation
bags triggered by the astronauts. "Everything's okay. Our checklist is complete. Awaiting swimmers,"
was Armstrong's last official transmission from the Columbia. A diver from the Navy helicopter hovering
above attached a sea anchor to the command module to prevent it from drifting. Additional divers at-
tached flotation collars to stabilize the module and position rafts for astronaut extraction.

OFFICIAL SOUVENIR COVER
WESTERN SAMOA POST OFFIC&

The Command Module of the Apollo 11 spacecraft was extremely small. lt had only
the leg room of an average automoblle. and its computer system was about as
powerful as that found in a fam!IY car.