THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Apollo 11 Splashes Down 57 Years Ago After Historic Moon Landing Days Earlier
By NASA History // July 24, 2026
July 24, 1969 — Following the successful splashdown of Apollo 11 in the Pacific Ocean, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins traded their iconic white spacesuits for gray biological isolation garments as they prepared for the next phase of their historic mission.
The crew was greeted by U.S. Navy First Lt. Clancy Hatleberg aboard the recovery operation and waited together for transport by helicopter to the USS Hornet, the aircraft carrier that recovered the astronauts after their return from the Moon.
From there, the four men traveled approximately 812 nautical miles back to Hawaii, where the Apollo 11 astronauts began a 21-day quarantine.
The precautionary isolation period was implemented to ensure that no unknown lunar material or organisms posed a risk to Earth following humanity’s first successful Moon landing.
The quarantine marked another important milestone in the Apollo 11 mission, which forever changed the course of space exploration and remains one of NASA’s greatest achievements.
CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS
