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Apollo astronaut Richard Gordon will be on hand Saturday when veterans and others will gather aboard the USS Hornet to celebrate the aircraft carrier's 70th anniversary and its 15 years as a museum.

The day's activities also will include a panel discussion on the ship's history and a new exhibit, "Hornet: Reflections in Time."

Originally slated to be named the USS Kearsarge as it was being built, the carrier was instead named in honor of the previous USS Hornet (CV-8) that was lost in October 1942 during World War II's Battle of the Solomon Islands. The aircraft carrier is the eighth Navy ship to bear the name Hornet -- the first was a merchant sloop that set to sea in 1775 during the Revolutionary War.