31. Cernan, Evans and Schmitt were then retrieved by a recovery helicopter and were safely aboard the recovery ship 52 minutes after landing. 32. Col . Glenn remained aboard " Noa " for three hours before a helicopter transferred him to the, the primary recovery ship . 33. She departed Philadelphia on 2 August 1966 and prepared for service as the primary recovery ship for the Gemini 11 space flight. 34. In late August she was assigned as the close-in recovery ship for the second in a series of Apollo unmanned space launches. 35. "Lake Champlain " completed her last major duty on 29 August 1965 when she served as the primary recovery ship for Gemini 5. 36. About 1, 000 liters ( 265 gallons ) of fuel that escaped during the sawing was sucked up by an oil recovery ship . 37. The Apollo 17 spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere and landed safely in the Pacific Ocean at 2 : 25 pm, from the recovery ship ,. 38. The splashdown point was 23?52 N, 67?62 W, east of the Bahamas and within sight of the recovery ship USS " Guadalcanal ". 39. The HAMEL pipes were also valuable, but being less flexible, needed to be cut into lengths on the deck of the recovery ship . 40. In the early 1960s she served as the recovery ship for two Project Mercury space missions, including John Glenn's historic first orbital flight.
