Kings of the Capsule

July 24th, 1969. After their historic mission to the Moon’s surface and back, there was one final step in the Apollo 11 mission: splashdown. As the command module floated (gracefully, we are sure) in the Pacific Ocean, a team of elite Navy divers known as Frogmen swam up to help the astronauts safely and securely onto a helicopter that would take them to the USS Hornet. Today on AirSpace, we hear from three of the Frogmen who plucked the Apollo astronauts out of the drink (and may have engaged in some horseplay on the floating capsule). We also hear from our Museum’s own Apollo Curator about the details of this critical final stage in the Apollo missions, and what to expect when capsules full of Artemis astronauts start splashing down this decade. Thanks to our guests in this episode: Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony, Apollo Curator- National Air and Space Museum John Wolfram, former Navy Frogman Clancy Hatleberg, former Navy Frogman Wes Chesser, former Navy Frogman Find the transcript for this episode and more information at s.si.edu/airspaces11e7.

You can listen to Kings of the Capsule online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Kings of the Capsule is an episode from AirSpace by National Air and Space Museum.

This episode is 38:58 long.

This episode was published on Feb 26, 2026.

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