The crew consisted of Commanders Charles
C o n r a d a n d R i c h a r d G o r d o n a n d L i e u t e n a n t
Commander Alan Bean. Another all-Navy crew
(Captain Charles Conrad, Jr., and Commanders Joseph
P. Kerwin and Paul J. Wietz) splashed down on the first
Skylab mission on June 22, 1973. The crew set
numerous records and accomplished virtually all of its
objectives.
Space. The Navy stands tall in the first 10 years of
manned space exploration. Records show that five of the
six men to walk on the surface of the moon during that
time had formerly been trained as naval aviators.
Research. In the 1960s, Navy scientific undersea
research resulted in the USS Alvin. The USS Alvin was
the Navy’s first deep diving vehicle. It was successfully
tested at 6,000-foot depths on July 20, 1965. The next
month, 10 aquanauts, including astronaut Commander
M. Scott Carpenter, entered the Sealab II capsule, 205
feet below the surface of the sea off the coast of La Jolla,
California. Carpenter remained underwater for 30 days
in a successful experiment of submerged living and
working conditions. On January 25, 1969, the first
nuclear-powered, deep-submergence research and
ocean-engineering vehicle, NR-1, was launched. That
five-man vessel can operate for weeks at a time at great
depths.
5-31
Student Notes:
Photograph courtesy of Mr. Francis Jeffery.
Figure 5-17.—Vietnam Memorial.
