WEBVTT 00:01.032 --> 00:03.610 (inspiring music) 00:03.610 --> 00:08.560 - The sun was coming up pink on my left as I was looking out 00:08.560 --> 00:10.210 and then on the right it was still dark 00:10.210 --> 00:11.790 and the stars were shining. 00:11.790 --> 00:13.600 It was like we were caught between night and day. 00:13.600 --> 00:17.200 And then right into the splashdown zone 00:17.200 --> 00:20.250 between these clouds came the command module. 00:20.250 --> 00:22.290 And then we started the exercise 00:22.290 --> 00:24.340 that we'd been practicing and practicing. 00:25.550 --> 00:27.730 As I say, there were thousands of us that day 00:27.730 --> 00:31.460 all dedicated to getting the astronauts home safe. 00:31.460 --> 00:33.640 Each of us had our small part and we practiced it 00:33.640 --> 00:35.973 over and over and over again. 00:37.340 --> 00:40.860 And of course on this mission failure was not an option. 00:40.860 --> 00:44.690 Most of the teams and the helicopters and the pilots 00:44.690 --> 00:48.710 and all had been around for Apollo 8, Apollo 10. 00:48.710 --> 00:49.940 The only difference was that now 00:49.940 --> 00:52.143 we had to do the decontamination. 00:53.580 --> 00:56.310 And the idea was to maintain quarantine 00:56.310 --> 00:58.620 because there was a concern that they might be bringing 00:58.620 --> 01:00.053 back a lunar pathogen. 01:00.970 --> 01:03.840 First swimmer out attaches a sea anchor 01:03.840 --> 01:06.550 to keep the command module from walking downwind. 01:06.550 --> 01:08.540 Then I jumped in. 01:08.540 --> 01:11.910 I set up the decontamination bottles. 01:11.910 --> 01:14.410 Astronauts of course might come out with some 01:14.410 --> 01:16.510 of the lunar dust on their biological 01:16.510 --> 01:18.530 isolation garments so that's why they had 01:18.530 --> 01:20.480 to be decontaminated with the bleach. 01:20.480 --> 01:22.820 And I might've got some on myself as well 01:22.820 --> 01:24.700 so they decontaminated me. 01:24.700 --> 01:26.570 Splish-splash, we were taking a bath 01:26.570 --> 01:28.320 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 01:29.240 --> 01:32.350 And that recovery helicopter comes alongside. 01:32.350 --> 01:33.740 They drop down the net. 01:33.740 --> 01:37.793 And one by one, they got into the net and up, up, and away. 01:38.910 --> 01:42.060 And then after they left, I decontaminated 01:42.060 --> 01:43.690 the entire command module. 01:43.690 --> 01:45.800 Hornet came back to pick us up. 01:45.800 --> 01:47.830 And they took the command module aboard 01:47.830 --> 01:50.320 with its precious cargo of moon rocks. 01:50.320 --> 01:53.760 And then we climbed up a cargo net onto the hornet 01:53.760 --> 01:54.653 and that was it. 01:56.870 --> 01:57.703 I mean, think about it. 01:57.703 --> 02:01.690 10 years after President Kennedy challenged the nation 02:01.690 --> 02:03.603 Americans walked on the moon. 02:04.570 --> 02:05.573 Astonishing. 02:08.480 --> 02:10.740 We out in the Pacific, we didn't see it. 02:10.740 --> 02:12.750 There wasn't any ability for us to see it 02:12.750 --> 02:14.680 but we knew that it happened. 02:14.680 --> 02:17.210 And you know, we were proud to be Americans. 02:17.210 --> 02:20.910 And 50 years later, you know, as far as I'm concerned 02:20.910 --> 02:22.820 I'm grateful and honored to have been part 02:22.820 --> 02:24.790 of the Navy team that was dedicated 02:24.790 --> 02:26.760 to bring them back safely. 02:26.760 --> 02:28.760 And you know, very proud that we did it. 02:29.640 --> 02:32.460 I'm Clancy Hatleberg and I was one of the thousands 02:32.460 --> 02:35.640 of Navy personnel dedicated to bringing the Apollo 11 02:35.640 --> 02:37.670 astronauts home safely. 02:37.670 --> 02:39.163 Happy birthday, Navy.