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Aircraft Carriers used for Astronaut & Spacecraft Retrieval.


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http://www.uss-hornet.org/history/apollo/

 

http://dodlithr.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-recovery-of-apollo-flight-crew-and.html

 

I have a few quetions about the earlier Carriers used for Mercury and Gemini, where the Carriers just picked to go to areas where the capsules were to land at random while they were at Sea? crews did they have special training for this?

 

It would seem by the info in the links above that the carriers used during the Apollo missions, in this case Hornet and later Ticonderoga, was pulled off Sea Duty and sent to port to equip it's self specifically for this type of Temporary Duty, it was TDY correct? It also having Naval units that were not typically assigned to any Fleet Carrier taken onboard for this duty, would I be correct here?

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Common now, be fair to all the flaptops, even the less famous ones! :) The USS Lake Champlain CV-39 was involved with the space program early on, she was part of the pick up of Alan Sheppard and Freedom 7, the first manned space flight. She was also later involved with I think one or two other Gemini missions in 1965. I cannot speak to your question directly but wanted to throw the Lake Champlain out there as another avenue to maybe help get your questions answered.

 

MW

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The USS Randolph ( CV-15 CVA-15 CVS-15) was used as the recovery carrier gor the second and third Mercury missions, Grissom and Glenn respectively.

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It was more important for the helicopter crews and UDT/SEALs who were to be first on scene to be the most prepared. I believe it was the loss of the Mercury capsule carrying Gus Grissom that led to better recovery procedures and the training program for the crews. I'm sure others can add more about this but I'll leave it at that for now.

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Thank's for the replies thus far, I knew there would be other Carriers used in the earlier part of the space program, our thank's to MWalsh and ithica who IDed Lake Champlain and Randolph in action. Still would like info on these early recovery missions though. On the UDT units UDT teams 11 and 12, also along with chopper crews is an interesting one, I would ask if they just had this misson only? The Helicopter unit listed in the Apollo missions, HS-4 was apparenlty as regular componet of Hornet, so I guess they just trained onboard for this type of duty, can't find much on the two UDT units though, like were they were permenantly based, Port Hueneme or Coronado, or Pearl Harbor?

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I don't have details of the units but I can say the training was an additional duty. It didn't take much more than the basic skills to work around the capsules, just a bit of training on the mock up capsules. The same for the helicopter crews, just a few days of training before the shot so everyone could be aboard ship and steaming for the splashdown area.

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In looking more closely at Sheppard's Gemini pick up pictures, I saw that the helo was a Marine helo from HMM-262. By that point the Lake Champlain was an anti-sub carrier and 262 was based out of New River I think it was, their history for that time period does not specifically mention that mission and simply says they supported East Coast FMF units then.

 

I see some of the other capsule pick ups from later space missions were also done by Marine helps.

 

Would that have been due to more experience with heavy lift than the usual Navy carrier helo crews???

 

MW

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I see some of the other capsule pick ups from later space missions were also done by Marine helps.

Would that have been due to more experience with heavy lift than the usual Navy carrier helo crews???

MW

I think it's because they flew the H~34 and the Navy didn't.

This topic has brought back some memories and interest about that time so I've gone back to reading what's out there which turns out to be a great deal. When I think back to what I know about those earliest recovery operations, including the early spy satellites it's amazing we didn't lose anyone until '67.

Here's where I went to read more: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=nasa+mercury+recovery+operations&rlz=1W1GGIE_en&oq=nasa+mercury+recovery+operations&gs_l=hp.3...2577.14871.1.15418.32.30.0.1.1.1.609.7967.0j8j13j6j2j1.30.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.S0GxBQTuQw8&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.cGE&fp=fd3a9fa00df3ae9c&bpcl=40096503&biw=1024&bih=540

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  • 2 weeks later...

WASP did a couple of Gemini recoveries in the 1965-1966 period. Somewhere around here I've a bunch of 35mm slides take during one of them.

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This question is probably best asked here: http://www.collectspace.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi

Keep in mind, not all the capsules were picked up by the dedicated ships which were trained to do so, as a few missed their projected landing zones.

Gemini 9A and Apollo 16 each almost landed onto the carriers assigned to them (each landed less than a mile from the projected spot), while Aurora 7 landed almost 400 miles away (and ensured Scott Carpenter would never fly another mission).

But yes, all Navy crews were trained well to recover capsules.

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This question is probably best asked here: http://www.collectsp...in/Ultimate.cgi

Keep in mind, not all the capsules were picked up by the dedicated ships which were trained to do so, as a few missed their projected landing zones.

Gemini 9A and Apollo 16 each almost landed onto the carriers assigned to them (each landed less than a mile from the projected spot), while Aurora 7 landed almost 400 miles away (and ensured Scott Carpenter would never fly another mission).

But yes, all Navy crews were trained well to recover capsules.

That's a great website, thanks. I immediately got all wrapped up in a couple interesting postings.

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  • 3 years later...

My dad was on the USS WASP CVS18. He was on board when they picked up Gemimi 12. Astronauts were Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin

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