ALAMEDA—Most people remember Neil Armstrong’s famous landing on the moon, but what was it like landing back on Earth?
This July will be 50 years since Apollo 11 traveled to the moon. One man flew into the San Francisco Bay Area to recall the historic era, five decades ago.
“I was the first one to greet the astronauts when they came back from the moon,” said Navy SEAL John Wolfram. He was 20 years old at the time.
“We got up at about 4 o’clock in the morning and boarded the helicopters. And there were several—I was up there. There were three rescue teams. We were designated to be the primary one.”
A large aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, carried helicopters, known as Sea Kings, to retrieve the astronauts after they “splashed down” in water. After the space capsule landed in water, professional swimmers would jump from the chopper, into the water, and secure the capsule so the astronauts could safely disembark. They waited about an hour before the splashdown. Wolfram was a sea anchorman, which means he was the first in the water to secure the capsule with a parachute.
“The reason why that was necessary, the capsule would move along in the water, and you needed a fast swimmer to catch it,” said Wolfram. “The waves are boisterous, so this sea anchor would help stabilize it. Then two more men would drop in with me, and we’d put a floatation, a collar around the capsule, and then they would drop down two rafts.”
Afterwards, they assisted the astronauts up the helicopter.
“It was a moment that I’ll never forget. Just being the first person on Earth to greet the astronauts that just walked on the moon. It’s a lifetime event,” said Wolfram.
He is often seen with the 1960’s flowers, as in the photo above.
“We put a flower on the hatch window on Apollo 10, and NASA wasn’t happy about that. We didn’t what to waste a flower so I just put it on my wetsuit,” said Wolfram.
“I’m the only one that had the flowers. So if you ever see a picture in the encyclopedia or whatever, and there’s no flowers, it’s not me,” he joked.
People can still see similar models of the capsule and aircraft inside the very same USS Hornet, retired into a museum, right by San Francisco Bay.
