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
Tranquility Base Tranquility Base Tranquility Base (Latin: Statio Tranquillitatis) is the site on the Moon where, in 1969, humans landed and walked on another celestial body for the first time. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module "Eagle" at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Six hours later, the two astronauts exited the spacecraft and spent 2 hours 31 minutes on the lunar surface, examining and photographing it, setting up some scientific experiment packages, and collecting of dirt and rock samples for return to Earth. They lifted off the surface on July 21 at 17:54