The Splashdown 2004 festival takes place in July, and it will feature Astronauts Alan Bean -- the lunar module pilot and fourth man to walk on the Moon -- and Dick Gordon, the command module Pilot and veteran of a spacewalk during the Gemini missions.

Also on hand will be children's book author Marianne Dyson, who will give a talk about her book "Home on the Moon."

Writer Don Blair will be also aboard to talk about his book, "Splashdown, NASA and the Navy," first book entirely devoted to manned spacecraft recovery missions that were carried out by the Hornet and other ships.

The Smithsonian Institute's National Air & Space Museum is sending a spacecraft. Command Module 011 flew an unmanned mission in August 1966 to test the Saturn rocket launch system and the heat shield's ability to withstand reentry temperatures. The spacecraft was recovered by the USS Hornet in the Pacific hours after it was launched from Cape Kennedy.

For more details, visit www.uss-hornet.org.

Contra Costa Times
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