The Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Hornet, which saw combat in WWII and Vietnam, was the recovery vessel for the Apollo 11 and 12 missions. It is now the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, Calif.
It is a lesser-known note in history that Neil Armstrong's first words back on earth after exiting his Apollo 11 space capsule were: “BZERBLIZERBLZ.” It was July 24, 1969, and Armstrong and his fellow astronauts had just splashed down in the Pacific after becoming the first humans to walk on the moon. While their capsule pitched in the waves, the astronauts slipped on biological isolation garments – bulging, full-body suits meant to prevent the spread of lunar pathogens. “So I'm standing there and the first person who comes out turns out to be Neil Armstrong,” says Clancy Hatleberg, 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. It sounds like this: 'BZERBLIZERBLZ.'” “I'm going, 'What the hell is this?'” says Clancy. “So I fell back on my Navy training, which is when you're in an operation and somebody says so
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