"Hey, there it is!" shouted one of U.S.S. Ticonderoga's sailors. Barely four miles off the bow of the big carrier, Apollo 17's command ship America emerged from the puffy clouds, drifting easily under its three billowing orange-and-white parachutes. Then, while a television-equipped helicopter hovered almost directly above it to give the world its first bird's-eye view of a splashdown, the command ship dropped into the gently rolling Pacific. Less than an hour later, Apollo 17's three astronautsNavymen Gene Cernan and Ron Evans and slightly seasick Civilian Geologist Jack Schmittwere safely aboard the...
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