From Space to Sea:
The Navy's Role in Manned Space Flight
This exhibit highlights the Navy's contribution to the space program. Some astronauts were naval officers, but the Navy also supplied ships and helicopter squadrons used in recovery of astronauts and equipment, and UDT frogmen who were the first to reach capsules after splashdown. The exhibition highlights all aspects of the Navy's involvement of our national journey into manned space.
The exhibition includes 35 pieces of art, from various artists including Paul Ortlip, Everett Raymond Kinstler and Cliff Young. On the spot drawings, watercolors of equipment and manpower, portraits of astronauts and paintings of important events make up the images featured in the exhibition.
Click the image for a larger view.
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Pre-Dawn, Launch Day for Apollo 12 By Gerard Knipscher Oil Painting, 1969 Navy Art Collection, 88-162-AO November 14, 1969 was launch day for Apollo 12 with an all Navy crew from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. |
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Frogmen Open the Hatch By Doris Rodewig Acrylic Painting, 1973 Navy Art Collection, 88-162-QQ Members of an Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), known as "frogmen" were the first to arrive via helicopter after a splashdown. They would attach a floatation collar to stabilize the command module, fasten a raft and open the door to allow the astronauts to exit the module. |
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Apollo 11 – USS HORNET from Rescue Copter to MQF By Cliff Young Acrylic Painting, 1969 Navy Art Collection 88-163-AN Wearing biological isolation garments, the crew of Apollo 11 is escorted to the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) to ensure that they did not bring back any contaminants back from the moon. The Airstream trailer would be their home for the next 65 hours while it was transferred from USS Hornet to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. |
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Recovered Apollo 11 Module, USS HORNET By Cliff Young Oil Painting, 1969 Navy Art Collection 88-163-AM After the astronauts were safely on board USS Hornet, the ship traveled to pick up the 5 ton command module, at which point the boat and aircraft crane was used to bring the module up to the starboard aircraft elevator. The floatation collar was removed and the module was placed on a dolly near the mobile quarantine facility for removal of the lunar rocks and transfer to Johnson Space Center. |
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USS Ticonderoga at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii By Paul D. Ortlip Watercolor on Paper, 1972 Navy Art Collection 88-162-OZ After nearly thirty years of service to the Navy starting in World War II, one of USS Ticonderoga's last missions was the recovery of the astronauts of Apollo 17. The artwork shows the ship waiting at Pearl Harbor for orders to go on station near American Samoa. |
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