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The Apollo 16 Command Module bobbles photographed in the waters of the central Pacific Ocean during recovery operations. The prime recovery ship, USS Ticonderoga, is in the background. A recovery helicopter hovers overhead. The Apollo 16 crew, astronauts John W. Young, Thomas K. Mattingly II, and Charles M. Duke Jr., were picked up by helicopter and flown to the deck of the ship. The splashdown occurred at 290:37:06 ground elapsed time, 1:45:06 p.m. (CST), Thursday, April 27, 1972, at coordinates of 00:45.2 degrees south latitude and 156:11.4 degrees west longitude, a point approximately 215 miles southeast of Christmas Island. A team of Earth Landing System swimmers assisted with the recovery operations.