Essex-class aircraft carrier and "Princeton" recovered the second crew to orbit the Moon, aboard Apollo 10, in May 1969. "Hornet" rejoined the program and recovered the astronauts from the first two moon landing missions, Apollo 11 in July 1969 and Apollo 12 in November. The first steps on Earth of returning astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins, are marked on her hangar deck, as part of her Apollo program exhibit. The three subsequent missions utilized amphibious assault ships as support vessels; however, "Ticonderoga" recovered the astronauts of the last two moon missions, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 in April and December
Apollo 11 lunar sample display the United Nations that were to receive these displays. Each display included Moon dust from the Apollo 11 first manned lunar landing mission that were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. The rice-sized particles were four small pieces of Moon soil weighing about 50 mg total and were enveloped in a clear acrylic button about as big as a United States half dollar coin. This acrylic button magnified the grains of lunar pebbles. The Apollo 11 lunar sample displays were given out as goodwill gifts by Nixon in 1970. Lunar dust soil from the