Featured Map for 24 July 2019:
Florida to Hawaii the VERY Long Way

Fifty years ago today, Apollo 11 completed its historic eight-day mission with the splashdown of Command Module Columbia (CSM-107) in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii, where Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin along with their treasure of lunar soil samples were recovered by the USS Hornet (CVS-12). The Hornet then steamed to Pearl Harbor where the quarantined crew and samples were transferred to a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter at Hickam AFB and flown to Houston.

For Michael Collins and Columbia, it had been a non-stop flight, one which would have spanned just 5,702 miles had they followed the geodesic path but instead covered 953,054 miles.

Today's Featured Map shows the longest straight ground path from Apollo 11's launch pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center to splashdown near the Hornet, plus the subsequent sea journey to Honolulu and on by air to Houston.

References and additional information:

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • Mission Pages: Apollo 11
  • Mission Pages: Apollo 11 Overview
  • Apollo 11 Mission Report (NASA SP-238)
• Cape Canaveral LC39A – Astronautix
• USS Hornet
  • Splashdown 50th Anniversary Celebration
• USS Hornet Historical Landmark – California Office of Historic Preservation
  
  
• Featured Map: One Small Step ... (20 July 2019)
• Featured Map: The Eagle Has Landed (20 July 2014)
• Featured Map: RIP Neil Armstrong (26 August 2012)