S81-30954 (14 April 1981) --- The solid rocket booster recovery ship UTC Liberty heads for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after retrieving one of the two booster casings from the STS-1 launch. The vessel had been tied up overnight at the Trident Submarine Basin at Port Canaveral, from which point this photo was taken. The boosters and the parachutes that bring them to safe landings in the Atlantic east of Kennedy Space Center are recovered at sea, dewatered and towed to processing facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
NASA
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