USS Hornet helped write the playbook for Artemis II splashdown: A look at its NASA history

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- A historic Bay Area aircraft carrier that once helped bring astronauts home from the moon is now serving as a real-life reminder of how far space travel has come.

At the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, crowds gathered Friday to watch coverage of the Artemis II splashdown, an event rooted in procedures first carried out on that very ship more than five decades ago.

Now docked in Alameda as a sea, air and space museum, the USS Hornet played a critical role in NASA's earliest human spaceflight missions. In 1969, it served as the recovery ship for the Apollo 11 moon landing, retrieving astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins after their historic journey.

The ship was also used for the Apollo 12 mission, cementing its place in spaceflight history.

Back then, splashdown recovery was even more of a complex operation. Astronauts landed in the ocean inside their command module, which was then located, secured and lifted out of the water using a massive crane on the Hornet's deck, according to Russell Moore, chief experience officer at the USS Hornet Museum.

RELATED: Artemis II crew successfully splashes down in the Pacific

Once aboard, the crew took their first steps back on Earth before being placed into a quarantine trailer for weeks over concerns about possible lunar contamination, known as "moon germs," at the time.

That process helped establish the blueprint for how NASA would safely recover astronauts returning from space.

Today, the fundamentals remain the same: land in the ocean and recover the crew -- but the technology has evolved.

For Artemis II, recovery teams will use a modern naval vessel with a floodable well deck, allowing crews to bring the capsule directly onboard without lifting it out of the water. Helicopters will still play a role in locating and securing astronauts, but the overall process is faster and more streamlined than during the Apollo era.

MORE: When did the Artemis II crew splash down in the Pacific Ocean?

Still, the USS Hornet's legacy was on full display Friday as families toured the vessel and watched NASA's Artemis II splashdown livestream.

Across the Bay Area, similar splashdown celebration took place, including at the Chabot Space and Science Center, where attendees heard from NASA astronauts while following along with the mission.

"It's the home run," Parul Agrawal, the project manager for Orion/MPCV operations at NASA Ames Research Center, told ABC7 Eyewitness News. "Our astronauts are on the last day of their journey, and it's the ultimate test of our heat shield systems."

When Artemis II hurdled back through Earth's atmosphere, the capsule moved at roughly 25,000 miles per hour and faced temperatures near 5,000 degrees. The crew's only protection from that intense heat was Orion's heat shield.

That same heat shield drew scrutiny after showing signs of wear during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in late 2022.