Apollo 11 moon landing had thousands working behind scenes

Former Navy frogman Clancy Hatleberg, who was the first person to interact with the Apollo 11 crew when they returned to earth from the moon on July 24, 1969, sits in his home Friday, July 11, 2019 in Laurel, Md. "When you stop to think about it, the thousands of us who were all participating that day to bring the astronauts home safely, we all had clean clothes, showers, hot meals and they had been hurtling through space," he said. "They were the ones who risked their lives to take that giant leap for all mankind. They're the heroes and they always will be in my heart." (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

JoAnn Morgan, NASA's first female launch controller, at her home in Bigfork, Mont. Morgan, who worked on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, went on to become the Kennedy Space Center's first female senior executive. Retired since 2003, she splits her time between Florida and Montana, and encourages young women to study engineering. July 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Krysta Fauria)

Launch controllers in the firing room at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. In the third row from foreground at center is JoAnn Morgan, the first female launch controller. "I was there. I wasn't going anywhere. I had a real passion for it," Morgan said in a July 2019 interview. "Finally, 99 percent of them accepted that 'JoAnn's here and we're stuck with her.' " July 1969. (NASA via AP)

NASA shows Flight Activities Officer Spencer Gardner, first row fourth from right, with members of the Apollo 11 White Team, handling descent and landing, in the Mission Operation Control Room in Houston, shortly after the mission. Barely 26, Gardner was one of the youngest flight controllers on duty when the Eagle settled onto the Sea of Tranquility with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. (NASA via AP)

Lt. Clancy Hatleberg closes the Apollo 11 spacecraft hatch as astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, Jr., await helicopter pickup from their life raft after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, 900 miles southwest of Hawaii, returning to Earth from a successful lunar landing mission. His mission was to decontaminate the astronauts and their command module, Columbia, immediately following splashdown. July 24, 1969. (Milt Putnam/US Navy via AP)

Spencer Gardner, a flight activities officer during the Apollo missions, speaks during an interview inside the simulation room next to the mission control room which is under restoration at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Looking back, Gardner wishes he'd savored the moment of touchdown more. But he had a job to do and there was no time for reflection. June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Spencer Gardner, a flight activities officer during the Apollo missions, speaks during an interview next to the mission control room under restoration in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Gardner worked on Apollo 11 and five other missions, and also attended night law school. He left NASA in 1974, became an assistant district attorney, then joined a law firm. He still practices law in Houston at age 76, specializing in commercial business and real estate. June 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Clancy Hatleberg, who was the first person to interact with the Apollo 11 crew when they returned to earth from the moon on July 24, 1969, stands near a pond outside his home Friday, July 11, 2019 in Laurel, Md. He was 25 at the time of the historic mission and fresh from an underwater demolition team rotation in Vietnam. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)