After the crew of Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, there were recovered by the USS Hornet and placed in quarentine in a modified Airstream trailer until they could be transported to the larger quarentine facility in Houston, TX.
President Nixon was waiting on board to greet the astronauts, welcome them back to Earth, and congratulate them on a successful and historic mission.
Jan Armstrong, Joan Aldrin, and Pat Collins were flow to Hawaii to great their husbands after they were unloaded from the USS Hornet at Pearl Harbor.
Today, the quarentine trailer can be visited at the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia.
Aside from the occasional photo op, there was not a lot for the astronauts to do after splashdown until they arrived in Houston and their formal debriefing began.
After the Astronauts were released from quarentine, they received a plethora of accolaids and celebrations, including the traditional ticker-tape parade in New York City.
After an around the world goodwill tour with the entire Apollo 11 crew, Armstrong was invited to the Soviet Union and was presented a badge by Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
After his unexpected death, Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Neil Armstrong was cremated and on September 14, 2012, his remains were buired at sea from the USS Philippine Sea.
After Apollo 11, Michael Collins held multiple high profile public jobs, including Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs, the first president of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, and undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
One of the more obscure facts I discovered about Collins is that he had no middle name
My middle name is “none”, as in I don’t have one. When I was younger, I kind of resented not having a middle name. Now, I like the simplicity of Michael Collins. #MiddleNamePrideDay pic.twitter.com/sT9jfQ6ac2
— Michael Collins (@AstroMCollins) March 6, 2020
Air Force Major General Michael Collins passed away in Florida on April 28, 2021. He was 90 years old.
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