page_title: July 1969
section_title: July 24, 1969 (Thursday)
hierarchical_section_title: July 1969 / July 24, 1969 (Thursday)
caption_attribution_description: English: President Richard M. Nixon was in the central Pacific recovery area to welcome the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the USS Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Already confined to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) are (left to right) Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 splashed down at 11:49 a.m. (CDT), July 24, 1969, about 812 nautical miles southwest of Hawaii and only 12 nautical miles from the USS Hornet.
context_page_description: The following events occurred in July 1969:
context_section_description: The Apollo 11 crew splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean at 1650 UTC (5:50 in the morning local time) at a point 235 miles (378 km) south of Johnston Atoll, and was recovered at 1729 by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.  At 1758, five minutes after stepping on to the ship, the three astronauts proceeded from their ship into a "mobile quarantine facility" for 17 days as a precaution against having brought any contamination from the Moon back to Earth.  U.S. President Nixon, who was en route to Asia on a state tour of several nations, greeted the astronauts on the Hornet, speaking to them from outside of the window of the "isolation van" and told them "This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation.  As a result of what you have done, the world has never been closer together."  
  Two civilians were already inside the mobile quarantine van when the astronauts arrived, and would live with the astronauts during the 21-day quarantine.  A physician, Dr. William Carpentier, performed diagnostic tests to verify that the three men were not infected, while a mechanical engineer, John Hirasaki, examined the lunar orbiter, which had been placed next to the quarantine container.
  NASA announced that the next manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 12, would be launched on November 14.  Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and lunar module pilot Alan L. Bean were identified as the persons to become the third and fourth, respectively, to walk on the Moon, while Richard F. Gordon would remain in orbit in the command module.  All three of the Apollo 12 astronauts were officers in the United States Navy; Conrad and Gordon both had the rank of commanders at the time, while Bean was lieutenant commander.  The mission would launch, as scheduled, on November 14, 1969.
  Born: Jennifer Lopez, American singer and actress nicknamed "J.Lo"; in New York City
  Died: Witold Gombrowicz, 64, Polish writer and playwright
caption: Quarantined astronauts
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