A United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team swimmer assists the Apollo 12 crew during recovery operations in the Pacific Ocean. In the life raft are astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. (facing camera), commander; Richard F. Gordon Jr. (middle), command module pilot; and Alan L. Bean (nearest camera), lunar module pilot. The three crew men of the second lunar landing mission were picked up by helicopter and flown to the prime recovery ship, USS Hornet. Apollo 12 splashed down at 2:58 p.m. (CST), Nov. 24, 1969, near American Samoa. While astronauts Conrad and Bean descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Intrepid” to explore the Ocean of Storms region of the moon, astronaut Gordon remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Yankee Clipper” in lunar orbit.
Image Credit: NASA