edgar-mitchell

52
The Way of the Explorer
was essentially done. And Aquarius had performed the lifeboat function
flawlessly.
After several anxious minutes of communications blackout during the
fiery ride to the sea, their voices came through to mission control, and
moments later we could see that the three red-and-white parachutes had
inflated beautifully on the huge monitor in the control room. Tears came
to the eyes of grown men as they watched the end of the drama unfolding.
The astronauts were safe and reasonably sound.
I recall emerging from my fatigue as though from a trance. The world
around me suddenly came to life. A few minutes later we could see on the
screen a helicopter hovering over the capsule as it deployed swimmers
into the ocean. Eventually the hatch to the capsule would open in the
midst of the South Pacific. Then three grateful, if gravely disappointed,
explorers would emerge.