Man’s second mission to the moon ended safely and successfully early to-day [November 24] when the Apollo-12 astronauts Commanders Conrad, Gordon and Bean made a pin-point splashdown in the South Pacific, close to the recovery ship, Aircraft Carrier Hornet. The spacecraft’s return to the earth’s surface was just as hectic as its departure to the moon ten days ago — whereas Cape Kennedy was hit by a thunderstorm during the take-off, the Pacific landing site was lashed to-day [November 25] by gale-force winds which made the sea turbulent. But the recovery operations went smoothly and within an hour after splashdown the astronauts had been picked up by helicopters and landed on the flight deck of the carrier. They were reported to be in good physical shape as they were hustled into their special quarantine quarters aboard the ship — the customary precaution taken to guard contamination of the earth by any “moon bugs.” The astronauts will reach the Space Centre in Houston next Saturday to begin their debriefing and decontamination procedures. The lunar samples they brought back – 90 more pounds of moon rocks and parts of the robot Surveyor spacecraft they investigated while they were on the moon — will go to space laboratories direct for study.
