Space History Photo: Apollo 10 Helicopter Recovery

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The Apollo 10 astronauts climbing out of the Charlie Brown command module. (Image credit: NASA.)

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, a Navy helicopter arrivies to recover the Apollo 10 astronauts, seen entering a life raft, as the Command Module "Charlie Brown" floats in the South Pacific. U.S. Navy underwater demolition team swimmers assist in the recovery operations. Splashdown occurred at 11:53 a.m., May 26, 1969, about 400 miles east of American Samoa. Note that in this photo the divers have attached a flotation collar to the spacecraft.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).

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NASA
U.S. Space Agency

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. government agency in charge of the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Founded in 1958, NASA is a civilian space agency aimed at exploring the universe with space telescopes,  satellites, robotic spacecraft, astronauts and more. The space agency has 10 major centers based across the U.S. and launches robotic and crewed missions from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. Its astronaut corps is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. To follow NASA's latest mission, follow the space agency on Twitter or any other social channel, visit: nasa.gov.