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Experienced in Gemini ProjectSeamen Poised for Apollo RecoveryBy JOC JIM FALKSS Staff WriterBoatswain Mate 2. C. Mike Shreeves (at the covt;ry during an in-port period in Yokosuka thiscontrols) and crewmen on the destroyer Mansfieldpractice their jobs for Apollo space capsule re- week. (bb)YOKOSUKA, Japan — There is a group of U.S. Navymen here ready and raring for the r first manned Apollo moon shot ■ to blast off from Cape Kennedy.’ They are members of Taski Force 130 (CTF-130) — representatives of the Hawaii-based Manned Spacecraft Recovery* Force, Pacific., And just as ready will be thei crewmen of tight Western Pa-i cific rased 1 tr; i as welli as the pararescue airmen of the36th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Sq. at Tachikawa. The three units from two .serv-r ices will man one of severalt stations around the world in ai combined effort to rescue theastronauts and recover the cap-f sule should it plung down in thearea.The ( n 130 rei eslt; tativcs, i who J 1 logistic representatives for the Navy's1 cruiser-destroycr force in the* West Par . coo dir ate the joint rescue effort.- According to Lt. Paul E.| Greene, operations officer for* the unit, they had two years of experience in the Gemini proj-‘ ect before moving into the“ Apollo field in October 1966.. But to keep on their toes, and-j to give destroyer crews a chancei‘: to review rescue procediu es, the2 unit sets training schedules inconjunction with the Air ForceI r esc u e squadron’s quarterly1 training requirement.t “We can’t plan too far aheadr on what ships may be available- to us from the 7th Fleet,”- Greene said.“So we have all eight destroyers, homeported in Yokosuka, rigged to take easily-i installed cranes for capsule re-3 covery.”He said they can depend on at3 least two ships being available1 when the time comes., One of these destroyers maybe the USS Mansfield which g this week is going through somee refresher steps in port and atsea with one of three realistic training capsules maintained by , CTF-130 at Yokosuka.Commander .lack R. Griffin, Mansfield’s skipper, says very little about space capsule rescue 1 and recovery differs from normal shipboard work, but the e exercises are good for breaking3 in new crewmen.Ilis executive office r, Lt. e Cmdr, Robert W. Kesteloot, saidi maneuvering into position for arecovery is the same ordinary ship handling faced everyday.Even the crane that picks up the three-man space vehicle is standard equipment, said Boatswain Mate 2. C. M.ike Shreeves, who works the controls to pluck the capsule from the water.Some of the ship's old-timers have been on board through the transition from Gemini to Apollo.Lt. (j.g.) John Tortorici, Mansfield’s combat information center officer, was with the ship when it was on station for thelast Gemini shot in September 1966.“We were off Okinawa and could hear the whole show through a communication hookup with the coordinating center in Houston, Texas. The capsule came down on target in the Atlantic, but were ready if it had missed and come down in our area,” he said.During that shot, Tortorici said, Navy frogmen were on board, ready to go in the water to help the astronauts out of the capsule. That job has since beentaken over by Air Force pararescue experts.Task Force 130 representative Greene said these airmen bail out of their HC-130 Hercules with life rafts and floatation gear while the ship stands ICO yards away.The ship moves in after the pararescue team lands and shoots a tow line attached to the capsule for hauling it on board, he said.The joint task force has not had a chance to respond to a real manned Apollo shot yet, “We w'ere all set for that shot in January of 1967, which w'as aborted because of the capsule fire that killed three astronauts, and we’ll be ready for the next one.” Greene said.Japan Firms Told to ReportMANILA (AP) — A Senate recent allegations by a ranking In a memorandum for Presi-eommittee Wednesday ordered opposition Liberal Party sena- dent Ferdinand E. Marcos, Un--in iL,. Tit,t’ d -----ri n. -i i o i v iv * ,
Newspaper Details
Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Fri, May 10, 1968
Page 19
Full Page
Clipped by
Marc H.
VA, USA 03 Oct 2024
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