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Video by Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brown
The Recovery of Apollo 11 - Clancy Hatleberg interview
U.S. Navy Band
Oct. 11, 2019 | 2:46
Former Naval Special Warfare Officer Commander Clancy Hatleberg (USN retired, then Lieutenant) tells the story of his role in the recovery and decontamination of the Apollo 11 astronauts and their spacecraft. Mr. Hatleberg was an Underwater Demolition Team frogman assigned to UDT 11 in 1969.

produced by MU1 Eric Brown, MU1 Maia Rodriguez, and MUC Amanda Cline

Clancy Hatleberg biography -
Clancy Hatleberg served in the US Navy from 1965 to 1981. He had many different assignments as a commissioned officer, including Executive and Commanding Officer positions within the Naval Special Warfare community. Back then, special warfare meant Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) but now its referred to as “SEAL” since their mission has evolved into Sea, Air and Land operations.
During the Apollo 11 recovery mission in 1969, Clancy was the UDT Team Leader and also the decontamination swimmer. As such he was responsible for providing the first line of defense in preventing potential contamination of the Earth by lunar pathogens that may have been brought back by the astronauts. He performed spacecraft and astronaut decontamination procedures while wearing a biological isolation garment (BIG suit). He then assisted the 3 astronauts with being hoisted up into their recovery helicopter to be flown back to the USS HORNET.
Clancy was the first human to welcome the first humans to walk on another panetary body - Apollo 11 moon astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins - back to earth.
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