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[i]Meanwhile, the recovery forces had not been idle. Using the radar tracking data, a SA-16 Air Rescue plane was launched to the predicted point of splash-down some eight minutes before this occurred. A possible radar contact was made by the searching aircraft about two minutes before splash-down though this was not reported for a further six minutes. Twelve minutes later these contacts were confirmed. Thirty nine minutes after the capsule hit the water a visual sighting was made and a minute later Carpenter was seen to be sitting in the life-raft beside the capsule. Within an hour a pararescue team was dropped, the first indication that Carpenter had that this had happened being when the first of the two man team grabbed the life-raft and said, "Hello!" With the flotation collar attached and a hole cut in the left leg of his spacesuit to drain out the water, there was a two hour wait before Carpenter was in a helicopter and starting on a seventy one minute flight to the carrier Intrepid. Recovery of Aurora 7 took a little longer. Over three and a half hours elapsed before the destroyer Farragut arrived on the scene to keep an eye on things whilst waiting for the arrival of the USS John R. Pierce. It was this latter vessel that took the capsule onboard six hours and eleven minutes after it hit the water.[/i]
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