Video: 'NBC News Coverage of Apollo 11' (July 24, 1969, begins at 4:01 on 18th of 24 videos)

(Sunday, July 20, 1969, 16:50:35 Coordinated Universal Time) — The Apollo 11 crew, which included the first two humans ever to walk on the Moon, splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean this morning at a point 235 miles south of Johnston Atoll, and was recovered (at 17:29 UTC) by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

After stepping on to the ship, the three astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins) moved into a “mobile quarantine facility” for 17 days as a precaution against having brought any contamination from the Moon back to Earth.

U.S. President Richard Nixon, who was en route to Asia on a state tour of several nations, greeted the astronauts on the Hornet, speaking to them from outside of the window of the “isolation van.”

“This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation,” Nixon said. “As a result of what you have done, the world has never been closer together.”