08/25/2026
25 August 1966, 60 years ago today: The Essex-class antisubmarine warfare support carrier (CVS-12) was on recovery station for NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's uncrewed Apollo mission AS-202 that rocketed three-quarters of the way around the Earth in 93 minutes (left) before splashdown near Wake Island. Scorched from the heat of its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, the Apollo command module, designed to carry American astronauts to the moon and back, was craned aboard Hornet following its test (right).
A few years later in 1969, Hornet would be assigned as the prime recovery vessel for the first two crewed lunar landing missions, Apollos 11 and 12.
The AS-202 command module (CM-011A) would later go on display at the U.S. Pavillion at Expo '67 in Montreal, be used for drop tests at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (as it was then known) in Houston, and undergo refurbishment at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The well-traveled spacecraft has since made its way back to CV-12 as an exhibit at the USS Hornet - Sea, Air and Space Museum .
NASA photo # S66-50201 (left)
NASA photo # S66-49247 (right)
