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I was in the recovery force the Pacific

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recovery for CTF 130s did four combined

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task force 130 was a Navy Air Force

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operation there was a great fleet of

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Navy people and three of us Air Force

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people involved in recovery of all

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Apollo missions and I was a public

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forest guy for one of those couple for

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CTF 130 and involved in in recovery of

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Apollo 11 back in Honolulu well I've

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been I had to sit in an underground

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control center lots of nights listening

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to to the Apollo spacecraft talked to to

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Houston and occasionally we would break

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the boredom by getting to call the ship

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for a for a communications check

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translunar Coast there was no way when

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the once the crew left Earth orbit on

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her way to the moon it was no earthly

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way that they could you know get back

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and land in the in the ocean

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inadvertently or unexpectedly who just

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physics don't allow that so we had these

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long gaps of time when we sat on

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consoles and listen to the conversation

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back and forth but knew that we didn't

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really have any action other than to

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keep the ships out there I sort of had

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to make a choice for some reason we

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didn't have the television in the

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underground control center and in one

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hand I remember thinking about this I

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was a young first lieutenant and I was

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very very excited about being part of

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this Apollo program even though we were

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sort of felt we were on the fringes and

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we weren't real NASA we were the

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military who was doing a service for

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NASA and I remember thinking gee where

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do I want to be when they land on the

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moon should I be in the control center

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sitting on console so that I can tell my

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grandchildren that I was there and in

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the recovery control center

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plugged in listening to this epic event

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and then I discovered that we weren't

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going to get TV signals so this down in

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the control center so I elected to sit

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home and watch it so I can see it on

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television rather than be in the control

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center and I think I've made the right

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okay there was a concern that there

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might possibly be some bacterial

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microbes on the surface of the of the

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moon that would be brought back and all

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the dust that was coarse on their

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clothes and hands and when they bring it

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bring the suits back and they get

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exposed to the to the dust you have to

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put it in context the Andromeda Strain

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Michael Crichton's book it was very

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successful about you know a

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extraterrestrial microbe that gets loose

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and eats the earth so I don't know

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whether there was a I don't know how

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much of a concern there was I wasn't

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part of NASA so I couldn't judge that

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but the bottom line was they shipped us

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this what looked like a Airstream

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trailer without wheels

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in fact it said Airstream on the end of

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it over the window just and the

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instructions were to quarantine the

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astronauts as soon as we got her back on

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the ship

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so when the helicopters would would land

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on on the ship and this was true of

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three missions the the the crewmen three

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crew members would get out of the

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helicopter wearing masks that was some

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sort of biological isolation masks and

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biological isolation well flight suits

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they were not real real contained but

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then after a brief physical they put him

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in this trailer which was sitting on the

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hangar deck of the ship not very not

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very plush no air-conditioning it was

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hot down in the South Pacific

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so the the mqf would be put on the

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hangar deck which is the second deck

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it's the deck immediately below the

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flight deck and it's kind of open

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there's big gaps or you could see out

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into the ocean and they had the thing

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oriented in a way that the crew members

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stuck in this trailer could sit and look

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out through the window towards the ocean

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so they could see a horizon reference if

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the seas were choppy you could you know

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at least get a reference to the horizon

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so you wouldn't get sick so they were

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stuck in that thing while the ship

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steamed all the way to Pearl Harbor most

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of the recovery took place down the

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South Pacific in the samoa area so that

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was took a

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while I remember maybe five days six

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days to steam up to Pearl Harbor in the

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case of Apollo 11 when the ship docked

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at Pearl Harbor at dock Donna not a main

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pier right across from the BX the

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exchange highly visible area and we had

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set up a reviewing stand there we had

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chairs put out for dignitaries and on

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this big platform that we had built

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wooden plywood covered platform we had

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on all six or seven chairs gap and then

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six or seven chairs on the other side

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and the gap was for the mqf so the ship

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took this Airstream trailer wasted it

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over the side and lowered it carefully

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down onto this platform and seated up on

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the platform were people like the

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president the United States and we had a

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little welcoming ceremony there Pearl

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Harbor this was the first chance that

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the media other than the cool people

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that were on the ship had to see then

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and hear from the crew and if I remember

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right we plugged a PA system in where

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the where the crew could talk kneel you

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know if I remember right Neal was the

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spokesman and said a few words as part

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of this little ceremony they were all

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duly welcomed back all the dignitaries

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went off to a reception leaving a few of

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us there to figure out what to do with

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these guys and their Airstream trailer

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vehicle designed to carry cargo and

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slide it into the inside of an airplane

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so it's a it's a big platform with

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rollers and it has wheels and it can go

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up and down different heights and we had

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hallways things over from Hickam Air

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Force Base which is next door to Pearl

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Harbor and after the crowd left we again

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used a crane to lift the thing up and

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set it on this K loader strap it down

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because k-loaders got wheels on it

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rollers on the top of this platform and

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an airman I got in the cab of this thing

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and started off down the pier and there

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was a flatbed truck that had come over

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with some of the equipment that was

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associated the k-loaders so two or three

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of us got in the back of the steak truck

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and

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it up in the front you know with their

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arms over the cab and followed behind

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the mqf and the mqf had safety belts on

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the seats that were designed for use in

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flight takeoffs and landings I assume

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that the crew didn't I guess they

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assumed they were pretty safe so they

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they stayed in the window so we looked

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at them and they looked at us for about

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the 20 minute bumpy drive around this

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back road and it was it was not a main

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thoroughfare it was a back road that

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went around parallel to the to the

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channel Pearl Harbor channel to get to

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Hickam Air Force Base and we wound our

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way this little procession around its

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way through the base out on the flight

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line and we had the Apollo command

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module was already there I don't know

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who called it over I guess the Navy had

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brought it over I don't know how it got

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there but I remember the Apollo command

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module was sitting on the ramp on a

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little cradle we all went over and you

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know knocked on it and felt it which I

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realize now we shouldn't have done but

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and the crew sat there on the scale odor

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and there was a c-141 Starlifter that's

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a rather large for engine jet with a big

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opening in the back and rowers on the

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floor inside and after some some effort

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they took the k-loader and ran it up

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flush with the floor of that airplane

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and manually pushed the trailer into the

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inside still with the window facing

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backwards

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you know plane didn't take off I don't

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know why but they weren't ready to go so

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they they locked the mqf down and the to

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the floor got it tight to the floor and

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we all stood around and here's the mike

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buzz and Neil sitting him again still in

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the window this rather small window you

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see their little three faces like maybe

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like urchins looking at you through

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through a window of a store or something

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and they sat and they stared out and and

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then they disappear I guess they go sit

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down for a while then they come back and

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look out and because I suppose they were

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anticipating uh what would have been

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maybe a seven-hour eight-hour flight to

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Houston and they were gonna be locked up

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in there with no daylight or anything so

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they stayed in the window for a while

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and people would come by and wave at

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them

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they way back and it must have been

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interesting for them after being the

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focus of really the whole world to now

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00:09:07,699 --> 00:09:06,450
be totally without any control of

219
00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:07,709
anything you know they drove this

220
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vehicle to the moon and we're in charge

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of the whole program and now they're

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sitting in this mqf why everybody is

223
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flowing around them and they probably

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one of the things that it's kind of

225
00:09:27,590 --> 00:09:26,339
interesting as you stand in the museum

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and look at the mobile quarantine

227
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facility today as you'll see him there's

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the above the window is these big thick

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3d letters that say Airstream and you'll

230
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notice there's some tape velcro residue

231
00:09:46,309 --> 00:09:44,040
it's just kind of crumbly pieces of

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velcro stuck up there and nobody's ever

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taken it off because they weren't sure

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whether it was historical or not I kind

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of think it is that held a sign that

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said Hornet plus three and oh we had put

237
00:10:02,449 --> 00:10:00,420
that sign or actually the ship people

238
00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:02,459
the ship had had made this sign up it

239
00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:05,730
was a paper cardboard sign and they'd

240
00:10:12,439 --> 00:10:09,930
stuck it on this velcro so that all the

241
00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:12,449
time that that the cameras were like

242
00:10:17,300 --> 00:10:13,920
during the ceremony that when they

243
00:10:19,910 --> 00:10:17,310
landed at Pearl Harbor the cameras were

244
00:10:23,329 --> 00:10:19,920
fixed on that window you saw this legend

245
00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:23,339
that said Hornet plus three the next

246
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time around by the way they when the

247
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same quarantine facility was used it

248
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:28,199
said the sign was put back on it said

249
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three more like before I can just

250
00:10:34,910 --> 00:10:33,509
imagine the PR guy at at Airstream the

251
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Earth's ring probably built this thing

252
00:10:39,590 --> 00:10:38,220
for nothing because they knew that every

253
00:10:40,819 --> 00:10:39,600
camera in the world I mean the eyes of

254
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the world are gonna be focused on this

255
00:10:46,429 --> 00:10:42,389
little window and above this window was

256
00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:46,439
their logo big and instead imagine their

257
00:10:50,389 --> 00:10:48,689
chagrin one when they they saw this

258
00:10:52,370 --> 00:10:50,399
great event on television and there is

259
00:10:53,629 --> 00:10:52,380
the president and there is the the first

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three guys come back to the moon and

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00:10:57,679 --> 00:10:55,920
above the window it says Hornet plus

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three instead of air stream because this