John Young signed Apollo 16 recovery cover, 3.75" x 6.5", featuring an official NASA “Apollo 16 – Recovery Force Pacific” cachet, cancelled aboard the USS Ticonderoga on April 27, 1972, the day of splashdown. The cover bears Young’s bold blue ink signature and is additionally annotated by CWO Gerald P. Hammack, USN, Apollo 16 Recovery Team, dated April 27, 1972. Affixed at upper right is a “United States in Space – A Decade of Achievement” 8¢ stamp.
Accompanied by a 5" x 5" Apollo 16 beta cloth mission insignia display with an autograph by Young in black ink beneath the embroidered patch reading “Apollo 16 – Young · Mattingly · Duke.” The beta cloth patch, the same fire-resistant material flown aboard spacecraft, adds strong visual and historical appeal.
The ensemble is attractively mounted in a 12" x 16" presentation format, including a crew portrait and identification image of recovery personnel, along with a period news clipping detailing the Apollo 16 splashdown and recovery operations aboard the USS Ticonderoga.
Apollo 16, commanded by John Young with Ken Mattingly and Charles Duke, was the fifth crewed lunar landing mission and the second to explore the lunar highlands. Recovery covers cancelled aboard the primary recovery vessel and signed by the mission commander represent a desirable crossover of flown-era space history and naval recovery operations.
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