WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - It's one thing to read about the day Neil Armstrong returned to Earth, but another to hear from members of the crew that retrieved the Apollo 11 astronauts.
Two of the four Navy frogmen divers involved in the recovery mission came to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum to give a presentation and show photographs of the historic event. The team had to train for months, running countless practice trials in the ocean. On the day of the astronaut's return, Mallory was strapped with five different cameras to document the rescue and the condition of the Apollo command module.
"We installed a floatation collar so all those moon rocks wouldn't sink to the bottom of the ocean. Our second job was to make sure the astronauts were saved also, they didn't hit by sharks or drowned or fall out of the helicopter and drowned," explained Michael Mallory, U.S. Navy Frogman, Apollo 11.
Another story the divers like to tell is how their team received the nickname "Shark Bait" during a practice run.
"We were there, the helicopter was shining a bright light on us so we could work and put on the collar. And as we were going through that process, I think we had gotten the rafts attached and the collar attached and then somebody said 'Sharks! Sharks!' Well, we got out of the water pretty quick, as you can imagine," said Wesley Chesser, U.S. Navy Frogman, Swim Team Leader, Apollo 11 Recovery.
Mallory adds that for him, the best part of educating people about the mission is to see the excitement in the kids that will grow up to be the next generation of astronauts.
