Photos: Apollo exhibit aboard the USS Hornet Museum

“The USS Hornet is the largest surviving artifact of the Apollo program and we have an award-winning Apollo exhibit on board,” according to a new release.

On hand was Clancy Hatleberg who was on the Underwater Demolition Team that first greeted Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin when they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after their mission to the moon.

“So I’m standing there, and the first person who comes out turns out to be Neil Armstrong,” says Clancy Hatleberg, the officer in charge of the swimmer-recovery teams of Apollo 11. “He sticks his hand out and says something. Now with the gas masks, you can’t understand anything. So I fell back on my Navy training, which is when you’re in an operation, and somebody says something to you, you repeat it back to let them know you understood. I said back into the face mask exactly what I heard, ‘Bzerblizerblz.’”

They hosted a High School Robotics contest and the San Jose Astronomical Association with their solar telescopes.

See the related article here.