WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

A water-level view of recovery operations for the Apollo 13 mission in the South Pacific Ocean. The three crewmen have egressed their spacecraft, and are awaiting the readying of the "Billy Pugh" net which will hoist them to a helicopter hovering above. The crewmembers (from the left) are astronauts Fred W. Haise Jr., lunar module pilot; John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot; (only partially visible between Haise and the Command Module (CM)), and James A. Lovell Jr., commander. A U.S. Navy underwater demolition team swimmer prepares to assist Haise into the net. Apollo 13 splashdown occurred at 12:07:44 p.m. (CST), April 17, 1970, in the South Pacific, about four miles from the USS Iwo Jima, prime recovery ship.