JULY 24, 1969
6:47 a.m.- Crew awakens and begins to prepare for splashdown.
12:21 p.m.- Command and service modules are separated.
12:35 p.m.- Command module re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
12:51 p.m.- Spacecraft splashes down 825 nautical miles southwest ofHonolulu and about 13 nautical miles from the recovery ship, the U.S.S. Hornet.
1:20 p.m.- Hatch of command module opens and frogman hands in isolationsuits.
1:28 p.m.- Astronauts emerge from the spacecraft in isolation suits and aresprayed with a disinfectant as a guard against the possibility of theircontaminating the Earth with Moon "germs."
1:57 p.m.- Astronauts arrive by helicopter on the flight deck of the Hornet.Still inside the helicopter they ride an elevator to hangar deck and then walkimmediately into the mobile quarantine trailer in which they will remain untilthey arrive at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at Houston early July 27.
3:00 p.m.- President Nixon welcomes the astronauts, visible through a windowof the trailer. Speaking over an intercom, he greets them, extends them aninvitation to attend a dinner with him August 13. and tells them: "This isthe greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation.... As aresult of what you have done, the world's never been closer together .... Wecan reach for the stars just as you have reached so far for the stars."
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