Come celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 12 Splashdown on the USS Hornet!

The day’s events include:

• Meet Astronaut Daniel Bursch, veteran of 4 space missions. He will give a talk and take some Q&A starting at 11:00 AM.
• Apollo program Presentation by Bill Miklos, USS Hornet Docent and Aerospace Mechanical Engineer at 12:00 Noon
• Apollo 12 Hornet Crew Member table, including Larry Silva (Repair Division and Media Liaison) and Rick Pracht (Anti-Submarine Operator Chief) who were in the navy and involved in the Apollo recoveries.
• Special Exhibits for the day include NASA AMES, SSERVI and a Model Rocket Display all day.
• The Apollo program presentation will be repeated at 1:30 PM if needed.

Background Information:

Daniel Bursch: former NASA astronaut and Captain of the United States Navy. He had four spaceflights the first three of which were Space Shuttle missions lasting 10 to 11 days each. His fourth and final spaceflight was a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station, as a crew member of Expedition 4, which lasted from December 2001 to June 2002. This 196-day mission set a new record for the longest duration spaceflight for an American astronaut, a record simultaneously set with his crew mate Carl Walz.  Their record has since been broken.

Bill Miklos: BS and MS in Aerospace Mechanical Engineering. Served 13 years as an officer in the USAF in development assignments involving flight dynamics and satellite bus design. Employed by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for 23 years in satellite design and ground system development for the Milstar satellite system and was Space Segment Director and finally Director of Launch and Operations Readiness for the first launch of the successful Advanced EHF Satellite before I retired in 2011.

Larry Silva: Larry enlisted in the Navy in January 1969. First assigned to the WWII aircraft carrier USS Bennington CVS-20 engineering department as an E2 pipefitter.  In May 1969 he was transferred to the USS Hornet CVS-12 repair division and was part of the recovery team for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. During the Apollo 11 recovery he was assigned to assist members of the media who were on the flight deck and was able to watch the astronaut and spacecraft recovery procedures from that vantage point.

Rick Pracht: (Aviation Anti-Submarine Operator Chief Petty Officer) was the hoist operator crewman with HS-4 during the pick up of the Apollo 13 crew aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2).