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Virginia Beach man remembers role in Apollo 11 recovery mission, 52 years ago

Fifty-two years ago this weekend, the first men to walk on the moon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Carroll Bains was there aboard USS Hornet.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — This weekend marked the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 recovery mission.

On July 24, 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after an eight-day mission where the first men walked on the moon. 

Virginia Beach resident, Carroll Bains was there aboard USS Hornet, the prime recovery ship for the country’s first lunar landing mission.

“That was a very exciting thing," Bains said. "Even though we’d just come back from a combat cruise, once we were designated as the prime recovery vessel for the first moon landing crew everybody was juiced up for it.”

Carroll Bains was a lieutenant commander on USS Hornet, that day.

As Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landed in the Pacific, Bains helped run the search and surveillance mission that ensured crews reached the command module.

“I directed the aircraft – the helicopters and the search aircraft to be in position to relay any radio messages that needed to be relayed from the splashdown site to the ship, to Hornet," he said. 

It was a critical mission that came after a lot of test runs and practice pick-ups using a replica.

“So that we would be able to maneuver the ship, stop right alongside it, hook it right up... and hoist it aboard our number three elevator," Bains explained.

More than 50 years later, Bains said the work of his crew that day is something he’ll never forget.

“Oh, I’d go back in a heartbeat if they’d let me! But age has taken its toll, I’m afraid," he joked.

Four months after the Apollo 11 splashdown, the Navy selected USS Hornet again as the primary recovery ship for the Apollo 12 mission.

Author's Note: The video below is on file from July 16, 2019.

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