South Carolina Focus

Bob Coggin was just back from serving in Vietnam as a diver in an underwater demolition team when he got his next assignment from the Navy: train to possibly recover Apollo 8. The first manned spacecraft to leave the earth's atmosphere and orbit the moon would soon splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Coggin understood the importance of the astronauts' mission. But he didn't think much of his own role. "It was a big deal back then, but we couldn't understand why it was such a big deal," he says. "It was just another day kind of thing really." The day was December 27, 1968. Coggin's team was one of three poised to secure the space capsule in the predawn hours and assist the astronauts to safety aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown. The then 25 year-old watched from a helicopter, as Apollo 8 seared through the earth's atmosphere, glowing fiery shades of orange and red against a dark sky. It was a mind blowing sight, lasting mere seconds. "We had cameras around our necks and didn't