Apollo 16 spacecraft touches down in the central Pacific Ocean

S72-36293 (27 April 1972) --- The Apollo 16 Command Module (CM), with astronauts John W. Young, Thomas K. Mattingly II, and Charles M. Duke Jr. aboard, splashed down in the central Pacific Ocean to successfully conclude their lunar landing mission. The splashdown occurred at 290:37:06 ground elapsed time, 1:45:06 p.m. (CST) Thursday, April 27, 1972, at coordinates of 00:43.2 degrees south latitude and 156:11.4 degrees west longitude. A point approximately 215 miles southeast of Christmas Island. Later the three crewmen were picked up by a helicopter from the prime recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.