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Author
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Topic: Recovery ships and painted footprints
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KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 12-08-2007 05:07 PM
   
This was a question my husband asked (I didn't know the answer):It seems the crew of the Hornet commemorated the recovery of the Apollo 11 crew by painting where Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins first placed their feet on the deck upon exiting the helicopter. Was this a one-time only event? Or was it repeated later (or instituted earlier) with other historic recovery operations? Thanks in advance. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 12-09-2007 02:55 AM
Kris-As I remember they did it for Glenn, on the Noa. In the movie "The Right Stuff" it shows them doing it to Shepard, but I never heard anyone else telling me about it. In the films of Shepard getting out of the helicopter nobody is doing it. I also do not recall it being done on Apollo 11. One story I was told (by Carpenter), water had leaked into his suit. He took his boot off and poked a hole in the toe. He then held his leg out the door and let the water drain out. -Lou |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1940
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 12-09-2007 07:28 AM
Numerous websites (like this one showing a contemporary Time magazine story) show that they outlined the footprints of Glenn and the Apollo 11 astronauts. I can't find anything on any other astronauts.Also, I can't find any photos online of these footprints, either from the 1960s or today, despite several "Hornet" sites saying that the footprints are still visible. Has anyone seen them and taken a picture? Steve |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 12-09-2007 01:39 PM
Thanks very much, Lou and Steve. And Lou I remember that story too of Carpenter taking care of all the water he shipped in--he'd just been dunked, and good.The medic present reported later that he regretted he didn't measure or somehow quantify the liquid that Carpenter let drip out the door of the chopper--after cutting a hole in sock of his undergarment. We were going to go to the Hornet museum last weekend when we were in Oakland, and would have looked for the footprints. But we ran out of time. But it raised the question for us of the tradition of footprint painting. So thanks again. Kris [edited for balky keyboard keys!] |
Rodina
Member Posts: 836
From: Lafayette, CA
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 12-09-2007 05:52 PM
The USS Hornet indeed has some footprints painted on the hangar deck going toward the MQL that are consistent with the walk of the crew into the MQL. I don't recall any on the flight deck proper, but others here will have a better grip than me on where any memorial footprints *ought* to be. |
mikepf
Member Posts: 444
From: San Jose, California, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 12-10-2007 10:56 AM
The painted Apollo 11 footprints are on the hangar deck of the Hornet. When I get home I'll see if I have any good pictures of them. If I remember correctly, the astros stayed in the helicopter after landing until the elevator lowered it to the hangar deck. Last time I was aboard, they had the same type helicopter, the footprints, and the A14 MQF in the original relative positions, and an Apollo CM nearby. Mikie |
space1
Member Posts: 861
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 12-10-2007 11:53 AM
I was on the Hornet in 2003 with my son. Here he is following in those historic footsteps.  The sign reads, "Neil Armstrong's First Footprints on Earth after walking on the moon." The Apollo 14 MQF is in the background to the right. ------------------
John Fongheiser
President
Historic Space Systems,
http://www.space1.com |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1353
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 12-10-2007 12:12 PM
Although they aren't his footprints, I think I took a photo of DP's bronzed handprints from the Astronaut Walk of Fame Park this weekend for you and/or DP's website.I will send them your way Kris when I get the film developed. Garry |
mikepf
Member Posts: 444
From: San Jose, California, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 12-10-2007 01:12 PM
KC,
Have you or Scott Carpenter been to the Hornet since its conversion to a museum? I forgot to ask him about it at Spacefest. The Hornet has an interesting and pretty funny part in your book. Although it is probably more amusing to read about than to have lived it. I think they should add some Scott Carpenter footprints, but where to put them?Regards,
Mikie |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 12-10-2007 06:16 PM
Garry--thanks for the offer. I myself have never been to the Hornet but really want to see it. I think the DP has visited the Intrepid. I am not sure about the HornetMikie--Hah! Yes, historic footprints indeed. I guess they would be painted heading down the Hornet's gangplank, with a pause for a smart salute to a furious skipper. |
ea757grrl
Member Posts: 732
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 12-11-2007 06:27 AM
I was aboard Hornet in 1999, not long after the museum opened (and long before the MQF arrived), and remember seeing the footprints there. It's been a long time, but I think the relative location of the MQF was outlined on the deck, sort of like Les Nessman's office walls on WKRP. During the Apollo 11 recovery, the section of the hangar deck where the crew transfer took place appears to have been covered in what appears to have been tarps or sheet plastic or something; in the pictures, you can see the seams where it was laid out, and it all makes sense given the other procedures and given that they sprayed chemicals on the steps and on the path the astronauts took after the transfer took place. Given the preparations, any footprints would have to have been "re-created" after the fact. I'm not sure the footprints are the *exact* path, but at a minimum they are in the same approximate area of the aft portion of Hangar Bay 2. BTW, during the Apollo 11 recovery (and probably 12, as well) there was a yellow line painted in Hangar Bay 2. It was there to help the aircraft handlers steer the helicopter into the proper position for the crew transfer. I don't know if it's been re-created aboard Hornet these days, but it wasn't there in 1999, not that I can remember. The other Apollo-related "historic location" I made sure to visit while on Hornet's hangar deck was on the port side, where the sliding hangar bay doors stow between Bay 2 and Bay 3. It was there that Dallas Townsend conducted his interview with three members of the crew of "Old 66" during the Apollo 11 recovery coverage.  jodie |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1332
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 12-12-2007 04:53 AM
Kris-Look at YouTube video Apollo 11: For All Mankind 4. It's from momo2007x and lasts 6:34. -Lou |
Paul78zephyr
Member Posts: 678
From: Hudson, MA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-12-2007 09:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Lou Chinal:
In the movie "The Right Stuff" it shows them doing it to Shepard, but I never heard anyone else telling me about it. In the films of Shepard getting out of the helicopter nobody is doing it.
Geez, I know it was just a movie with lots of historical inaccuracies but I really wanted to believe - all these years later - that they really painted Shepard's boot outlines on the deck of that ship. And Shepard, as the first one and a Naval aviation guy, was just the one to do it to. Man I'm crushed... (ps I know Pancho didn't call them 'pud-nockers') Paul |
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