American Experience (1988–…): Season 31, Episode 6 - Chasing the Moon: A Place Beyond the Sky - full transcript

♪♪

♪♪

We had to be
at the Cape real early.

And got in the car,
start heading out for the Cape.

Huge crowds!

The roads...
You couldn't get through.

And I began to think,

"I'm not even going to get there
in time."

The goal is the moon,

perhaps man's oldest dream.

If all goes well, some 112 hours
and 50 minutes after liftoff,



Neil Armstrong will step
on the lunar surface.

It shows what this,
the richest nation in history,

can do
if it puts its mind to it.

♪♪

My very first launch was
Apollo 11.

I had a press pass,
and so I was there

and had access.

I went up 3:00 or 4:00
in the morning,

stood by
the operations building,

and watched these three guys
walk by me

on the way to the moon.

That's like seeing Columbus sail
out of port.

♪♪

FRANK McGEE:
We all realize
that this is the beginning



of the most audacious
undertaking

that man has ever attempted.

♪♪

Historically,
man going to the moon...

That was an amazing thing.

The question was whether this
would represent a cosmic quest

that mankind is going to pursue

as a destiny.

♪♪

♪♪

That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

We may go on from this day
to Mars and to Jupiter

and even to the heavens beyond,

but as long as racism,
poverty, hunger,

and war prevail on the earth,

we as a civilized nation
have failed.

Some of us think

that the tremendous interest
in space travel

is, in a sense,

a search for another Eden...

That man has a kind of guilt

about the world
in which he lives

and that he has despoiled
the place where he is,

and that perhaps he ought,
now in his maturity,

to set out to find
another place,

a place which man could go to,

leaving behind the rusty cage

in which his own mistakes
have held him.

Four minutes and counting,
we are a go for Apollo 11.

Firing command coming in now,

we are
on the automatic sequence.

I was standing near
the giant windows

in the launch control center

right alongside
Wernher von Braun

and the other people
who were responsible for it.

Ten, nine,
ignition sequence start,

six, five, four, three,
two, one, zero,

Liftoff, we have liftoff.

I was thinking,
"What a wonderful animal we are,

"that we could dream up this

"and get ourselves off
this planet that we were born on

and off to another world."

♪ No time ♪

♪♪

Apollo 11, Houston,

you're good at one minute.

♪ No time. ♪

One of the joys

about the space program...

Everybody felt
they had a piece of it,

and they did.

Velocity 2,195 feet per second.

♪ No time ♪

♪♪

♪ No time. ♪

We're through the region
of maximum dynamic pressure now.

♪♪

This is just the beginning,
perhaps,

of a new stage in the evolution
of the species...

Something comparable

to the crawling
of the first amphibian creature

out of the primeval swamps
onto dry land.

♪♪

♪ Oh ♪

♪♪

♪ Oh. ♪

The astronauts are talking
to the ground

and reporting on the facts
and figures of the flight,

and somebody here a minute ago
was saying

they are as matter-of-fact
and unexcited and calm

as if they were taxicab drivers
reporting in

and saying,
"We're on Maple Street

headed for downtown."

What's your staging status?

Houston, you are go for staging.

♪ Oh. ♪

The circumstances were such that
we had the nation behind us,

everybody was sitting
on the edge of their seat,

and the awe
of the first time we did it...

Something you never forget.

Standing by
for the outboard engine...

Until two days ago

that sound had never been heard
on this earth.

Suddenly it has become as much
a part of 20th-century life

as the whir
of your vacuum cleaner.

It's a report
from man's farthest frontier,

the radio signal transmitted
by the Soviet Sputnik,

the first man-made satellite

as it passed over New York
earlier today.

Right now it's over Auckland,
New Zealand.

According the latest
Soviet announcement,

the satellite is still
maintaining its speed

at 18,000 miles an hour,

meeting no resistance 560 miles
out in space.

The Russians say it will be
joined by another very shortly,

and there will be advance notice
this time.

What the Sputnik signal means,
we still don't know.

The Russians haven't said
anything about that.

Our own experts haven't found
any coded information in it.

The sound may be no more
than a means of identification,

a way to keep track of the
beach-ball-sized metal sphere

as it hurtles around the world
16 times every day,

a dozen times faster
than any man has ever flown.

♪♪

The night
that Sputnik was launched,

I was on the newspaper desk,

and Io and behold
the flash came across,

"Russia has launched Sputnik."

And we couldn't figure out
the spelling of Sputnik,

we couldn't figure out
what Sputnik meant.

That was the first indication
that I had

that there was some
serious stuff going on in space.

Uh, this is really quite
an advancement

for not only the Russians,
but for international science.

I think we'd all agree on that.

It's the first time
anybody has ever been able

to get anything out that far
in space

and keep it there
for any length of time.

Do you admire the Russians
for doing it,

or no?
No, definitely not.

I think we should have been
the first ones to have it,

if there is such a thing.

It gets the American people
alarmed

that a foreign country,

especially an enemy country,
can do this.

It... we fear this.

We fear that
they have something out

that majority of the people
don't know about.

I thought, "We must be at war."

It's hard to appreciate

how truly desperate
this rivalry was,

with competing economic
and political systems,

each out to destroy the other.

Let's not fool ourselves,

this may be our last chance
to provide the means

of saving Western civilization
from annihilation.

This was not an attack
on the United States.

This was a scientific satellite
launched into orbit.

But, it does suggest that
the Soviet Union has a rocket

that is powerful enough
to send a nuclear weapon

to the United States.

I mean, we honestly believed

that we could be annihilated
with nuclear weapons

at any time.

When I was in elementary school

we would have
duck-and-cover exercises

and crawl under our desks

like that would protect us
from a nuclear blast.

♪♪

Well, I think the Russians are
ahead of us in some respects,

and I think their achievements
are rather remarkable,

but there is no reason
for panic,

because there's never
any solution in panic.

Progress is going to result only
from bold decisions

that are made by cool heads.

♪♪

Before the launch,

my father did not show
too big interest to the Sputnik.

But next day when my father
realized American reaction,

the shock and the fear,

next day it was all headlines
in the Soviet newspapers:

"We Are the First!"

Yes, we were surprised,

the same like
everybody was surprised.

And all the Soviet people want
to show America

that we are ahead of them,
not only me or my father.

♪♪

Good afternoon.

A dog knocked a goat right out
of the world's attention today.

In a masterpiece
of propaganda timing,

the Soviet Union announced

it had launched
Sputnik Number Two,

carrying a live dog.

Confirmed now
by Anglo-American scientists,

the rocket that launched
Sputnik Number Two

is capable of carrying

a ton-and-a-half
hydrogen bomb warhead

more than 5,000 miles
to a target.

So it was second satellite

that would launch
with the dog in orbit.

We wanted to see
what will be the conditions

of the first man in space.

Mentally, will he be stable?

But what was inside
the dog's head,

we don't know.

And now,
the Russians are talking

about shooting up something
that will hit the moon

and possibly even make
some kind of mark on it,

visible from the earth,

the kind thing that a month ago
would have sounded like a joke.

But in Washington now, anyone
who cares to laugh at this

does so at his own risk.

♪♪

It took the Soviets four years

to catch up
with the atomic bomb.

It took the Soviets nine months

to catch up
with the hydrogen bomb.

And now the communists have
established a foothold

in outer space.

♪♪

It is not very reassuring to be
told

that next year we will put
a better satellite into the air.

Perhaps it will even have
chrome trim

and automatic windshield wipers.

The Sputnik event sparked
a political response,

and Lyndon Johnson,
who at that point

was a senior person
in the U.S. Senate,

took the lead in making this
a national security issue.

I'm convinced that
the Russian concept,

that's, as demonstrated
by Sputnik Number Two

carrying this animal,
is very clear.

They consider the control
of space around the earth

very much like, shall we say,
the great maritime powers

considered the control
of the seas

in the 16th
through the 18th century.

And they say if we want
to control this planet

we have to control the space
around it.

♪♪

Wernher von Braun was
certainly motivated

by this desire to explore
the heavens,

no question about that.

But he spent the bulk
of his life

building ballistic missiles...
Weapons of war...

Rather than vehicles
of exploration.

So as the target finally comes
in view...

See, this is a target...

The space station will still be
overhead,

and the missile will be here.

So as long as you see the object

and can keep track
of your missile

by means of a radar beacon,
you can shoot at it,

even if you don't know
the exact location

and even if
it's a moving target.

Von Braun, to the public,
was a very charismatic figure,

very well-known.

He had proposed to launch
a small satellite.

He pushed, saying,
"I could do it,

let me do it before Sputnik."

And the answer came back, "No,

"we don't want you to be
the front person

in the first U.S. space launch,"

because von Braun was making
weapons.

♪♪

President Eisenhower decided
it was the navy

and its Vanguard project
that was going to be

the first U.S. attempt to launch
a satellite,

and "We're not going to change
our mind

just to beat the Soviets
into space."

This is
a third-stage rocket motor

that fits into the nose cone
of the entire Vanguard vehicle.

When this motor reaches
orbital altitude,

the nose cone separates,

and the antennae
fall into place.

I'm very pleased

to be associated
with the Vanguard project,

and all of us here
at Grand Central

are looking forward
with a great deal of enthusiasm

and anticipation
to the firing of the satellite.

This is Charles von Fremd
reporting from Cape Canaveral.

Reporters and photographers have
gathered here

throughout the night
and early morning.

Now, it is almost noon.

We expect
the Project Vanguard missile

carrying the first
United States earth satellite

to be launched momentarily.

It hasn't left the ground yet.

Seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.

And there she goes,

the Vanguard missile is
in the air.

We see a tremendous amount
of flames.

I don't see it.

I think the launching has been
unsuccessful.

There's no trace of the missile
in the sky.

Well, you have just witnessed

what will undoubtedly be
a severe propaganda defeat

for this country,

$110 million having been spent
on the project so far.

I don't view this situation

as one in which we should get
emotionally aroused

to a fever pitch.

I think we are embarked
on an orderly,

well-thought-out program,
which is producing results

in the defense
of the United States.

We are not looking
for headlines.

We have not been trying to get
in first on headline situations.

♪♪

My job was public relations.

I graduated
with a journalism degree

and a commission
in the United States Army.

And guess where they sent me?

Red Stone Arsenal,
in Huntsville, Alabama.

And I went to work
in the public affairs office,

and that was the beginning
of my career with von Braun.

Von Braun was there
with his missile team,

and they were preparing
to launch a satellite.

Eight, seven, six, five...

The United States is ready

to try and place
its first earth satellite

into orbit.

And there is a sudden,
tremendous burst of flame.

We can see the Jupiter-C missile
on its way.

They modified
a Red Stone rocket,

called it Jupiter-C,
and launched Explorer-1,

and we were in space.

♪♪

And all of a sudden, von Braun
and his team were heroes.

Von Braun, of course,
was very popular with the press.

When the press heard
von Braun was going to speak,

they showed up.

You know, he was,
he was the rocket man.

Now, we separated here

and aligned this nose section
alone

in the horizontal attitude.

But inside the government,

he was, first of all,
a pain in the ass.

Difficult to deal with,
a prima donna.

And the government
was well aware

of his background under Hitler

and his possible engagement
with the SS

and being a registered Nazi.

Heil Hitler.

My dear Dr. von Braun,

I want to congratulate you
and to thank you.

It's a remarkable achievement.

Thank you, sir.

But it's only the beginning.

We have always known
that a German scientist

will someday invent a weapon
which will give us victory.

And now, about the future.
Yes?

You will want mass production
for your rockets.

♪♪

Von Braun was enormously
important,

and, and Hitler of course
supported him,

which was again a miracle,

because nothing
that von Braun wanted to do

actually was what Hitler wanted.

♪♪

The V-2 rocket came right
at the end of the war,

and we all knew that
it was total waste of money,

as far as
the Germans were concerned.

But somehow
von Braun bamboozled Hitler

into giving him
everything he wanted.

♪♪

He just was extremely capable.

So I think he did really advance
the whole field,

very substantially.

♪♪

Von Braun had this notion

that it was our destiny to go

and to take life away from the
earth all over the universe,

and clearly that way

we weren't going to stay
stuck here forever.

And I felt the same way.

I mean, it was just obvious.

♪♪

The V-2 was pointing the way.

♪♪

As far as the war was concerned,
they were dead lost.

I was in London
during World War Il.

They killed a few people
in London

but did essentially
no military damage.

We were still flying bombers
over Germany,

and the Germans desperately
needed fighter planes.

So we were delighted
that some idiot had decided

to build these rockets instead
of building fighter planes.

♪♪

At the end of World War Il,

we had 2,000 intelligence people
on the ground... 2,000...

Searching for technology.

"We're not going to worry
about Nazis;

"we're going to go
after scientists.

"We're going to get
jet plane scientists,

"we're going to get
artificial fuel scientists,

and we're going to get rocket
and missile scientists."

They were building missiles
way beyond our capability.

Everything was based on the V-2,

because Americans were able

to bring all these most
important German designers

to the United States,
including Wernher von Braun.

By the way, Soviets tried
to seduce Wernher von Braun

and told,
"We will give you the cow,

you'll have milk."

But he say, "No,

I, I will go better
to the United States."

This decision was essentially
not one of expediency

but a moral decision.

We knew that we had created

an extraordinary new weapon

with tremendous potentialities.

We had seen Germany
in the claws of death,

and it was our intention
to hand our new weapon over

to a nation of...

whose leaders, we felt,
were governed

not by the laws of materialism

but by the laws of Christianity
and humanity.

This is one of the proudest

and most significant days
in my life.

It's almost like
getting married,

to become a citizen
of the United States,

and I'm very, very happy
about this.

♪♪

His 120 German scientists
that he brought to this country

basically became the mentors
for us.

♪♪

The whole three-stage rocket
ship stands 265 feet tall,

equivalent to the height
of the 24-story office building.

In the early 1950s

there was a flip
in the public perception

of whether or not we were going
to see space travel

in our lifetimes.

We began to see space articles.

Collier's was, was huge
in those days.

♪♪

That was the first time

that I recall seeing
von Braun's name.

Collier's magazine was one

of these great weekly
news magazines

that had millions
of subscribers.

And they did a series
of special articles

on the possibilities
of space flight.

This gets picked up
by Walt Disney...

At Disneyland Park...

who views it as an opportunity

to enhance his theme parks.

One of the popular attractions
here

is our simulated rocket trip
around the moon.

The Collier's series inspired
Walt Disney

to project this, this program
to the public.

That space travelers of
the future will encounter...

And so Walt Disney and von Braun
sort of found each other

and worked on several films
together.

This advance base,
or space station,

will be headquarters for
the final ascent to the moon.

Our space satellite will have
the shape of a wheel,

measuring 200 feet across.

This outside rim will contain
living and working quarters

for a crew of 50 men.

Just below the radio
and radar antenna

is the atomic reactor.

Its heat will be used to drive
a turbo generator,

which supplies the station
with electricity.

You know,
it began with filmmaking.

Von Braun went to Hollywood
numerous times.

Certainly the film people,

script writers and so forth,

were constantly sending
von Braun scripts

and getting his impressions,

particularly about the future.

By the grace of God,

in the name of
the United States of America,

I take possession of this planet

on behalf of and
for the benefit of all mankind.

♪♪

This is going to happen,

this is very close
to the reality.

♪♪

There is first and foremost
the reality of success

associated
with rocket development.

I got involved
with Project Orion,

and I got a call
from the chief scientist

at a private company
called General Atomic,

which is still around.

General Atomic was
in the nuclear business.

I was known to him
as a reactor designer.

And he called me up and said,

"Would you like to work
on a crazy scheme?"

And I said, "Yes!"

The crazy idea was to build
a spacecraft

driven by nuclear bombs.

You had to blow off the bombs
pretty fast,

blowing off two per second.

It was completely mad,
but extremely practical.

To make the whole thing serious,
to, to make it credible,

you had to do
at least one nuclear test

with an actual bomb.

Everything depended on that,

and of course we never got
the funds for that first test.

That was the breaking point.

Dr. von Braun,

in view of our rapid advances

in the field of atomic power,

do you feel that there is
a possibility

of utilizing a series
of small atomic explosions

to propel this rocket out
into outer space?

I don't think
atomic explosions...

Orion, of course,
was the competition for him,

but he was quite generous to us.

He gave us quite
a lot of support.

We intended that if we got
everything according to plan,

to have about 20 people on board
for five years.

A year to get to Mars,

three years exploring Mars,

then after that,
you would come home.

We wanted to explore
the universe.

♪♪

The success of the Sputnik
brought attention

to the space research.

It became the priority,

engineering priority,

scientific priority,

and propagandist priority.

The Soviets had some
second-rank German engineers,

and they came
to the Soviet Union,

and we started
to develop missiles

in the same manner like
in the United States,

using German brains
and German knowledge.

The chief
of our missile program,

his name was Korolev.

Everything was
under Korolev's supervision.

But for Korolev,
these Germans were competitors.

And when Soviet officials asked
Korolev,

"Are these people valuable?"

And he told, "No.

Zero value,
send them back to Germany."

So in 1955

all these Germans,
they return back to Germany.

After that, everything was
directed by Korolev.

It was big luck
to the Americans,

because Korolev was
not a real scientist.

He was a very strong manager.

Korolev, the same
with the Wernher von Braun,

they want to be famous,

and they want to be first,

and they want to launch
satellite.

"Who will be the most famous,
me or him?"

After we are running
as fast as they do,

there is still
a considerable gap to close,

and only the future will tell

whether we'll manage to close
that gap.

You have to understand,

when they started to design
these ICBMs,

both Americans and Russians did
not have thermonuclear warhead.

So they have to have
preliminary calculation,

how heavy it will be,

and Americans calculated
that it will be about two tons.

The Soviet nuclear program
calculated

it will be about six ton,
three time bigger.

And this make the Soviets build

this big,
absolutely useless ICBM,

much bigger
than American rockets,

but too expensive to be used
as a weapon.

Vice President Nixon escorts
Soviet Premier Khrushchev

on a preview
of the United States Fair

at Sokolniki Park in Moscow.

But on this occasion,

traditional diplomacy goes
behind the board,

and the story of the fair itself
is eclipsed

by a crackling exchange
between Nixon and Khrushchev,

begun off camera

and finished off

before American Ampex
color video tape recorders.

Every aspect of the Cold War
and Soviet-American rivalry

is argued in blunt
and forthright terms...

The threat of atomic warfare,
diplomacy by ultimatum,

economic progress.

Says Mr. K, "The Soviets will
overtake America

and then wave, 'Bye-bye.'"

♪♪

In 1959
we have only two missiles.

We were defenseless.

The missile gap was a bluff.

There are some instances
where you may be ahead of us.

For example in the development
of your...

of the rest of your rockets

or the investigation
of outer space.

There may be some instances,

for example, color television,

where we're ahead of you.

But...

Our ICBM is not as good

as we're trying to sell it
to the world.

But it was very good

for the launching people

and launching satellites.

The space launcher is still
in service

after 60 years,
the basic idea the same.

Sometimes the bad luck
giving you more success.

♪♪

All the information
about who is responsible

for the space achievements,

it was secret.

Korolev was kept secret,
because everything was secret.

It not bother anybody
except Korolev himself,

because he wanted to be
in public.

Dr. von Braun,
what is the next project

or experiment in your field

of rocket research?

Well, we are devoting part
of our time, of course,

to the development
of Project Mercury,

which is sponsored

by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

The object of this program is
to put a man in orbit, for which

an Atlas intercontinental
ballistic missile will be used

as a carrier.

Now we play the first part
in this program,

in that we will provide
some limited rides

over ballistic trajectories
of a few hundred miles' range

to these astronauts
to give them a little inkling

of what space flight is like.

Take your pictures at will,
gentleman.

Take pictures now.

Please, all sit down.

It's my pleasure to introduce
to you,

and I consider it
a very real honor, gentlemen,

Malcom S. Carpenter,
Leroy G. Cooper,

John H. Glenn,
Virgil I. Grissom,

Walter M. Schirra,
Alan B. Shepard,

Donald K. Slayton.

These, ladies and gentlemen,

are the nation's
Mercury astronauts.

Well, the astronauts
of the early era

were very much our alter egos,
our surrogates

in this gigantic struggle
with the Soviet Union.

And so they are every man.

And they're us.

The question is,

"Has your good lady
and have your children

had anything to say about this?

Coupled with that is
the so-called "right stuff."

My wife's attitude toward this

has been the same as it has been
all along

through all my flying,

that if it's what I want to do,

and she's behind it
and the kids are too, 100%.

I have no problems at home,

my family's
in complete agreement.

The astronaut training program
will last

probably two years.

During this time our urgent goal

is to subject these gentlemen

to every stress,
each unusual environment

they will experience
in that flight.

Before the first flight,

we will have developed
our Mercury spaceship

to the point where it will be
as reliable as man can devise.

Well, look, we had had,
at that point,

a number of unmanned spacecraft
that had failed.

It really impressed the hell
out of me

that this was
a really dangerous business.

♪♪

♪♪

The next president
of the United States,

on his shoulders will rest
burdens heavier than it rested

on the shoulders
of any president

since the time of Lincoln.

War and peace,
the progress of this country,

the security of our people,
the education of our children,

jobs for men and women
who want to work,

the development
of our resources,

the symbolic feeling
of a nation,

the image the nation presents
to the world,

its power, prestige,
and direction...

All ultimately will come to rest
upon the next president

of the United States.

I ask you to join us,
if we are successful,

I ask you to join us in
all the tomorrows yet to come,

in building America,
moving America,

picking this country of ours up

and sending it into the '60s.

Now, when we have a presidential
candidate for example,

Senator Kennedy, stating over
and over again

that the United States is second
in space...

And the fact of the matter is
that the space score today

is 28 to eight,
we've had 28 successful shots,

they've had eight.

When he states that we're second

in education,

when he makes statements
like this,

what does this do

to American prestige?

Well, it can only have
the effect,

certainly, of reducing it.

Yes, I believe the Soviet Union
is first in outer space.

We may have made more shots,

but the size of their
rocket thrust and all the rest...

You yourself said to Khrushchev,

"You may be ahead of us
in rocket thrust,

but we're ahead of you
in color television,"

in your famous discussion
in the kitchen.

I think that color television
is not as important

as rocket thrust.

♪♪

Korolev told,
"Americans making preparation

to put their astronauts
in space."

Gentlemen,
which one of you looks forward

to being the first man
into space?

♪♪

And the honor goes
to an astro-chimp

who is nicknamed Ham.

Ham is a stand-in
for the astronaut,

a friendly little fellow
in a form-fitted couch

about to make his mark
in history.

"We can send more testing
with the dogs,

"but it will not prove anything,

so I have to do it now."

Allow me, comrades,

to inform our Soviet government,

our Communist Party,

and all the Soviet people

that I accept with honor

the task assigned to me

to open the first path
into space,

and if, during the execution
of this assignment,

I encounter any difficulties,

I shall overcome them
as the Communists do.

First man in space...
it was the dream,

but it's close, 50-50,

the threat
that it can be failure.

♪♪

♪♪

Today, the 12th of April, 1961,

the first cosmic spaceship
named Vostok

with a man on board was orbited
around the earth

from the Soviet Union.

He is Airman Major Yuri Gagarin,

an air force pilot,

a citizen of the Union of
the Soviet Socialist Republics.

That was the voice
of Yuri Gagarin

recorded from
the first spaceship

with the first man to fly
into the cosmos.

The Soviet Union has today
laid claim

to one the greatest
scientific achievements,

one of the greatest
engineering achievements,

and incidentally one
of the most courageous ventures

of all time.

It has sent a man into space

and brought him back alive.

This man in space

became the most important event
in the world.

And my father want to make it
very public relations.

So he told, "Yes,

"we will bring Gagarin
to Moscow.

"I will meet him in the airport,

and then we will drive
to the Red Square."

They were the roofs and
the windows and the balconies,

cheering, shouting.

For me I was a professional,
I'm working in this field,

so all this is just
the propaganda.

For the ordinary people,

it was sensation.

But after that Gagarin became
the public figure.

And we are lucky
that he has so attractive face,

and he smile.

And of course Soviet Union
sent him everywhere.

He represented the Soviet Union

and the great technological
country.

♪♪

We Americans, and indeed
the people of the free world,

must understand that science
has political implications.

It means therefore that our own
science must be looked upon

with, as to
its political effect,

particularly
with the emerging nations...

Countries that are
impressionable,

that are new,
where emotionalism runs high.

♪♪

The world reaction was if
anything even more excited

than after Sputnik.

So Kennedy was faced
with an issue of what to do,

how to respond.

Two days later

he called a meeting
in the cabinet room,

and Kennedy goes
around the table

and says, "What can we do?

"Find me a space program which
promises dramatic results

in which we could win."

Von Braun was the man
who convinced President Kennedy

that we can beat the Russians
to the moon.

How soon, conceivably,

could we fly around the moon?

I, I think it could
conceivably be done in 1968.

"We've got the capability,

"we just got to commit to it,

and we can do it
within a decade."

But if you want to go
to the moon,

or land on the moon...

So Saturn was born.

Saturn was von Braun's baby.

He knew that if we start out
with a small one

and then had a middle-sized one
and then the big one,

we could eventually make
that machine go to the moon.

Well, in the simplest terms,

Saturn is the most powerful
rocket that we've ever built

on this side of the world,
and, presumaly...

presumably, the biggest rocket
built anywhere, anytime.

Does that mean it's bigger

than anything the Russians
have now,

as far as we know?
Uh, yes.

Von Braun made, I think,
the correct calculation:

"We should go to the moon.

"Why?

"Because both the United States
and the Soviet Union

"would have to build new rockets

in order to land people
on the moon."

This is not a cheap project,
but I think

it's going to be worth every
dollar we put into it.

"So in a sense,

"getting to the moon is
a rocket-building race,

and you, the United States,
have me."

Chairman Brooks, I realize

you're still in the middle
of your hearings

on the space program.

Do you think that getting
to the moon is that important,

and do you think we can do it
before the Russians?

No, and that's it,

we don't want to find
the hammer-and-sickle flag

standing up on one of the peaks
of the moon.

We want it to be
the star-spangled banner.

♪♪

This is Robert Trout
at Cape Canaveral

reporting on an historic day
in the age of space,

the day this country
finally took a long step

toward matching
Russian achievements

by shooting into space
a 37-year-old Navy commander

from East Derry, New Hampshire.

The Kennedy administration was
very media conscious,

so the plans all along had been
to do things

on live television.

♪♪

We were trying to send a message
of U.S. competence

with the Alan Shepard flight,

first U.S. person going
into space,

even if not into orbit.

Hangar here at Cape Canaveral,

and out through the doorway,
Alan Shepard,

slated today to be
America's first man in space.

Suited up
in a shining silver space suit,

he climbs up the ladder
and into the trailer

that will take him out
to the launching pad.

A number of people
in the Kennedy inner circle

said,
"Do we really want to do this?

"Do we want to risk failure
on national television

and maybe even killing someone
on national television?"

I would ask all of you,
please give us a break,

we know you want to see him,

but let's don't give him
the, the feeling

that all we are is
curiosity seekers.

If you could fall back
a little bit,

give him a break,
he's got a big job to do today.

And Kennedy called down
to the Florida launch site,

Cape Canaveral,
thought about it,

finally decided yes,
that the risk was acceptable,

and, "Let's do it."

He took the risk.

This is one
of the most tense moments

I've ever witnessed in my life.

Three, two, one, zero, ignition,

liftoff.

Moving slowly up in the sky,

we got to hear the sound.

Alan B. Shepard in the nose cone
of that rocket!

Still rising!

The speed is picking up
to 4,500 miles an hour

to carry spaceman Shephard
115 miles above the earth.

Each announcement on
Moscow Radio has pointed out

that America's first manned
venture into space

was a brief, vertical probe,

not an orbital flight.

If the missile had blown up,

if anything had happened
to Alan Shepard,

there's no telling
what the effect would have been

on our prestige
or our space program.

But nothing went wrong.

Everything went well.

A new spirit has arisen

in U.S. missile men

and in our capital.

♪♪

Ladies and gentlemen

I want to express
on behalf of us all

the great pleasure we have

in welcoming Commander Shepard

and Mrs. Shepard
here today.

For about a, a six-week period

from the middle part
of April of 1961

until the end of May,

Kennedy was able to announce
a moon landing program

and not be laughed
off the stage.

The president wanted to do
something

that was astounding
to the world.

We needed something like that

to really challenge
this country.

I believe that
this nation should commit itself

to achieving the goal,
before this decade is out,

of landing a man on the moon

and returning him safely
to the earth.

No single space project
in this period

will be more impressive
to mankind

or more important for the
long-range exploration of space,

and none will be so difficult
or expensive to accomplish.

I believe
we should go to the moon,

but I think every citizen
of this country,

as well as the members
of the Congress,

should consider the matter
carefully

in making their judgment,

to which we have given attention
over many weeks and months.

Because it is a heavy burden,

and there is no sense
in agreeing or desiring

that the United States take
an affirmative position

in outer space unless
we are prepared to do the work

and bear the burdens to make it
successful.

♪♪

There was a Gallup poll
before Kennedy's speech,

in May of '61,

where it asked,
"Would you spend $40 billion

to go to the moon?"

And something like 60% said no.

So there was not a groundswell
of public demand

for a dramatic,
expensive space venture.

It was a leadership initiative.

"If we decide to go ahead
with the exploration of space,

"including putting a man
on the moon

"within the next ten years,

we must be prepared to spend
the money and do the work."

And as he described the work
and described the money,

they both are considerable.

By the end of May,

he's already having
second thoughts.

His budget director
is telling him,

"NASA's going to break the bank,

"we've got to figure a way
out of this,

what do we do?"

Well, I think Kennedy had
second thoughts about the money

the day after he announced
we were going to do this.

I think all the way through
he was questioning,

"Do we really want to do this
or not?"

Today, President Kennedy signed
an authorization from Congress

to spend one billion,
$700 million

on our space program
for the next fiscal year.

That's ten dollars

for every man, woman, and child
in the nation.

But fair enough

for what is by far
the greatest show on earth...

The dramatic race to the moon.

♪♪

This is Radio Moscow.

This is Radio Moscow.

We interrupt your transmission
for a special news flash.

After orbiting the earth
over 17 times,

in the course of 25 hours

and covering
over 700,000 kilometers,

Major Titov landed

in a predetermined region
of the Soviet Union.

Major Titov is feeling well.

I do not think that we should

become disconcerted
by this accomplishment.

I do not believe we should

appropriate more
in the way of dollars.

I think what we ought to do
is to stay on course,

work steadily and deliberately
toward our objectives,

and keep our shirts on.

The immensity of the
accomplishment

of Soviet cosmonaut
Gherman Titov

has not yet begun

to sink into our minds.

He has opened the door
which will lead us

to the next
great adventure in space:

a trip to the moon.

And unless the world
changes drastically,

that initial trip will be taken

by a space craft
bearing a hammer and a sickle.

I was sent down all by myself
to Cape Canaveral

to write for a magazine,
Aviation Week.

Lived in Cocoa Beach.

I remember the...
sort of the physical environment

very vividly.

It was almost always hot.

It was humid.

And now here comes
this new population

of construction workers
and engineers

building, building,
building, building.

Building roads,
building launch pads.

You know, this was the
early days of the space program.

So I was about 27, maybe 28.

You know, we were all young.

It was exciting.

We are in one of the fastest
growth areas in the nation

here in the Cocoa area,

that we have experienced
a 370% population increase

in this county alone
within this last year.

You know, it was

a dead little town
until NASA showed up.

And, of course, the press came
in from everywhere.

The press just invaded
the place.

Everybody wanted
to go to Cocoa Beach.

That's NBC?

That's right, NBC News.
Radio.

And where are you staying,
Larry?

I'll be across the street

for most of the shot.
At the Holiday?

Yeah.
Do you have
one of our press kits?

What publication
are you representing?

I'm with Missiles & Rockets.

Where you staying, Doctor?

At the Cocoa Motel.
At the Cocoa?

I mean here I was,
young kid, young reporter.

I was in my twenties

and they were paying my way

to go to Cape Canaveral
and watch these rockets go up.

And you're all set
to go out and report the shot.

I was starstruck.

I mean,
this is NASA I'm covering.

These people are...
are heroes.

♪ Hey I got him in a capsule ♪

♪ He can't get away ♪

♪ He's locked up
in that capsule ♪

With the thousands of people

coming in for the launches,

it was wild,
there was no question about it,

as the town grew
and everything else.

And you had
all kinds of entertainment

at the various motels
and that type of thing;

the town would be packed.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Welcome to "Coocoo Beach,"

the government-controlled
Disneyland.

Oh, it got as wild
as you wanted it to get.

Oh, you like that, eh?

The press called it

Sodom and Gomorrah, as I
remember.

It just was a great time.

There was a lot of drinking.

The drunkest
I ever got in my life

was before
one of those missions.

So came the dawn.

Hung over, sun-burned,

out we go into the press site.

The press site in those days
was very basic.

There was a platform

and there was
a series of phones.

The atmosphere is quite tense

as 600 newsmen wait to see...

Astronaut Glenn steps in
and is patted on the arm

by a couple of the workmen
on the 11th deck.

Scene 43, sound 43, launch,
Mercury-Atlas.

It's now T-minus-30 seconds.

We notice that
several of the secretaries

of the space administration

have their heads bowed
in a prayer for the astronauts.

Nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three,

two, one, zero.

Ignition,

liftoff.

The MA-6 vehicle has lifted off.

The MA-6 vehicle
has lifted off...

♪♪

Just about in it...

♪♪

Colonel Glenn will soon be

the free world and America's
first man

to undergo orbital flight.

Roger, loud and clear,
flight path...

Oh, that view is tremendous.

♪♪

♪♪

News center...

When the Mercury program
started,

I was working at CBS news.

I wound up being
a production assistant

on the Mercury shots.

Eventually I moved up

and I started directing

coverage
of the manned space program.

All right, stand-by Walter,
here she goes.

Ready to go to Cronkite.
Keep going.

At this point, the capsule is...

In the early days of television,

we didn't have any live feeds

from the space craft.

So what do you put on the air?

What's your visual?

When you had
some disconnected voice

from mission control,

we took a oscilloscope
and fed the audio,

you know,
the voice of mission control.

Roger, the surgeon suggests

that you drink
as much water as you can.

Drink as often as you can.

What are you going to do?

It was essentially a radio show.

Moments ago, we learned of

the first problem
to develop in the flight.

Splashdown was always something
you could never see live.

Guys like Cronkite
created the drama.

And that's a rather serious one
to hear.

We still don't know that he is

safely through
the atmospheric layer.

We kept changing and building on

how we illustrated
launch to splashdown

with the visuals that we needed.

We started using Mercury models.

We had a
full-size Mercury mock-up.

Video tape
changed the whole dynamic

of capturing imagery.

Color... we started
working in color now

instead of black and white.

And then, finally, to using
all of those satellites

and spreading that
all over the world.

Everything we did
on every mission

was a rehearsal for Apollo 11.

I think the fact that
we did it in the open,

we told people in advance
we were going to launch.

It's in striking contrast
with the way in which

these operations
are conducted by Russia.

I don't think
any of their launchings

have yet been reported on
by a newsman

on the site.

Television was huge.

Guys like Cronkite,

you know,
they became our agents.

And so we've got
the first report

on the most important
of the experiments

being performed...

They wanted to be at the Cape.

Things look very good, indeed,
and augur well

for the future
of the Mercury program, and...

NASA knew Walter was important,

and we knew he was important

to be a cheerleader
for the space program.

Among the press,
Walter was just another guy.

Among Americans,

among people out there,

Walter was critical
to the nation.

There were several prima donnas
in broadcasting,

Jules Bergman
being the preeminent example.

Jules wanted you to know that
he could have been an astronaut.

Loneliness in space.

Wally Schirra might have
some feelings along that line,

if he weren't so busy now...

Jules Bergman... my God,

he was the most disliked person,
I guess, in the program,

but he did his homework
and he was real good.

Von Braun was smart.

He encouraged us
to embrace those people.

As I think all of you
know by this time, if you don't,

the launch is now planned
for 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

We've now flown
four men in space.

The Soviets have flown
some people.

The basic doubt about whether
man could survive in space

has essentially been answered,
and so we can get on with...

The open policy, the open door...

I think that was
one of the greatest things

that NASA accomplished.

Gordon Fraser here.

We're going directly to Florida,

where America's newest
astronaut,

Captain Virgil Grissom
is standing by to tell the story

of Liberty Bell 7.

Really proud of you,
and I must say

you did a wonderful job.

Colonel Glenn to New York today.

The 40-year-old man
from outer space

with the
beautifully thinning hair

will get the gladdest hand ever

from a city so eager
to applaud an uncommon man.

Broadway, the canyon of heroes
in Lower Manhattan,

is a completely white way today.

They're waving,
and the crowd goes mad.

Listen to them!

It was seeing
John Glenn's parade

through Manhattan
on March the 1st, 1962

that stimulated
my interest in space.

No one in the history
of this great city

has received such a welcome.

And seeing the public excitement

of a hero,

of someone
that had done something

that no American
had ever done before...

From then on I wrote about

the politics of space.

Everybody has turned out to see

America's heroes,
the men who put America

back in the space race.

Astronaut John Glenn,

the first American
to orbit the Earth.

Scott Carpenter, the 37-year-old

lieutenant commander
from the U.S. Navy

is on his way to the deck.

Gordon Cooper, the man
that will be at the controls

in the U.S. sixth attempt
at manned space flight.

He was awakened
this morning at 2:50.

America wanted
to meet their astronauts.

I mean, they were huge heroes.

Everybody wanted
to meet or see an astronaut.

The Life contract
was something that

the original
seven Mercury astronauts

were allowed to sign,
and their personal stories

were exclusive
Life magazine property.

The Life magazine contract
gave access to the astronauts,

the family,
and everything else...

In their homes,

being with the wife
during the mission.

We felt somewhat protected

by this contract
with Life magazine.

It made ground rules
for the whole thing.

The Life magazine people

could be in the house,

everybody else
was out of the house.

We felt like we were protected

from anybody just
coming and doing an interview.

We had an agent,

and he let NASA know that
the personal stories

belonged to Time Life,

and therefore the press
had to keep their distance.

It was big money
to us at the time,

$100,000 life insurance.

I was one among others
who sort of

resented it all the way along,
because I just felt

it went against what we were
supposed to be all about.

The Kennedy administration
was ready to cancel

the contract with Time Life
for the astronaut stories.

But it was John Glenn
that talked Kennedy into

allowing the astronauts
to continue

to sell their stories
to Life magazine.

In Hyannis,
they went waterskiing together

and all that sort of thing,
and on the sailboat,

Kennedy and Glenn
talked about that.

Glenn said,
"It puts a lot of burdens...

"my wife
has to buy extra clothes,

"I have to buy more suits,
I can't do that

"on military salary,

"that this extra income
is necessary

for us to be
good public representatives."

♪♪

It's amazing to me that they
could get away with that,

given the various rules

in the government about
who can take money for what.

But that's the power of

the Mercury astronauts
and their connection with JFK.

Of course, that was

the biggest PR move in history,

was get these first seven guys

and to make them super-human.

And it turned out
that the public

wasn't very interested
in satellites.

Satellites did not excite them.

But if you put a man
in the middle of that,

then now you've got
the public's attention.

And up to that point in time,
most of our heroes

were sports heroes,

and actors,
and people like that.

This is where the
idea of a black astronaut came,

early in
the Kennedy administration.

What would this do
to the country

if you were to take a black guy

and put him right in the middle

of all of the hero worship

that had been going on
with NASA.

All the other astronauts
were test pilots.

You had to have an
engineering degree or a degree

in natural science.

You had to have 1,500 hours
of jet time.

So I was 27,
2,200 hours of jet time,

a degree
in aeronautical engineering,

so my card filled out.

And I get this letter asking me

if I was interested
in going to test pilot school,

to go to Edwards Air Force Base
en route

to being the first
African-American astronaut.

I draw the line in the dust,
and toss the gauntlet

before the feet of tyranny,

and I say segregation now,

segregation tomorrow,
and segregation forever.

NASA had this problem,

because just about
every committee in Congress

was led by a Southerner.

You know,
NASA needed tax dollars, okay?

So that's the reason why

most of
the space program facilities

were created in the South.

That's what they needed
to get money from Congress,

to get these Congressmen
to vote.

And a whole bunch
of political history

comes into play.

We are confronted today
with a challenge

which has all
the urgency and importance

of our
space exploration program.

This is the social problem,

dealing with
man's relationship with man,

which, while not new,

has come into sharp focus
in recent years.

Your assistance,
your affirmative attitudes,

and your dedication
to a principle

that is based upon
what is right, what is just,

and what is fair will be needed.

♪♪

I was sent down to Edwards Air
Force Base to interview.

Chuck Yeager was the head of

the test pilot school
and the new astronaut program.

You know, we're turning out

an entirely different breed
of pilot here at the school.

These guys
will be working on programs

all the way from the surface
of the earth to space.

Chuck Yeager-
he was one of my heroes.

You know, he was the first man

to go through
the speed of sound.

And the first phase of it

was test pilot training,
which was a precursor

to the space training
en route to being an astronaut.

The Kennedys wanted
a black astronaut.

Particularly
Bobby Kennedy was insistent

on having a black astronaut.

And Ed Dwight, God bless him,

was enrolled
in the test pilot school.

And I was not involved in it,

although it was going on
at Edwards Air Force Base

while I was there.

I viewed myself
as a warrior in the Cold War.

I was there
because I was in the military

and I thought it
was extremely important to...

To get to the moon
ahead of the Russians.

Beat the Russians!

But Yeager is...
he's a piece of work.

Yeager had called in
the entire instructor staff

and he announced that

Washington is trying to cram
the "N-word" down our throats.

He said Kennedy is using this
to make racial equality,

so do not speak to him,
do not socialize with him,

do not drink with him,

do not invite him over
to your house,

and in six months he'll be gone.

Yeager said,
"Well, now, wait a minute.

"Dwight's not doing that well.
He's sixteenth,

"and we're only going to
take the top ten.

"But if you want
to expand the course,

"I'll take 16 in there

so Dwight will be included,"

and that's how it happened.

After I finished successfully,

the White House announced,

"We now have a black astronaut."

President Kennedy
called my mom and dad.

A 29-year-old Negro says
he is anxious to go into space.

He is Captain Edward Dwight
of the Air Force,

selected to be an astronaut,

the first of his race
to be so designated.

Captain Dwight and his family
got the news at their home

in Edwards Air Force Base
in California.

♪♪

Now, I'm going around
the country,

you know, being this
first black astronaut,

getting all these
trophies and awards,

and stuff like that...

Letting the whole leadership
in the black community know

that, "Here he is, guys."

Because blacks
are not heroes in science,

in math, in engineering,
in space, and flight testing,

and test piloting,
in piloting period, you know?

But I was talking to black kids,

trying to get their attention.

I was going in
a whole range of schools,

from city to city to city.

And I was still in training,
by the way,

in training to be an astronaut.

The School of Aerospace Medicine

is at
Brooke Army Medical Center,

near Lackland Air Force Base.

They did every possible thing

you could do to a human being

in that three-month period
of time.

They put your hands in
a bucket of ice cold water,

just one hand in
a bucket of ice cold water.

Well, what happens is your heart

starts beating
faster and faster and faster.

They would stick 14 needles
in your head

to see your brain waves.

And then you go
into the centrifuge.

It drains all
the blood out of your head

and you can't even see.

I mean, it was hell.

They stuck holes

in every orifice you had
in your body,

and made holes
in the rest of them.

It was unbelievable.

The unknowns of space
were such that when

the first Mercury candidates
were selected,

people were legitimately
or otherwise concerned

about their ability to withstand

vibration, high temperature,

isolation, darkness, heat...
And so they tended

to emphasize those.

By the time it got to the second

and the third group
of astronauts,

I think the emphasis

shifted a little bit
from the physical

to the mental.

I certainly would not want to
fly in space with a psychotic

or a highly neurotic person.

I thought that
some of the psychological tests

were kind of amusing,

like the blank piece of paper,

which I think
I said I thought I saw

19 polar bears
fornicating in a snow bank.

The question then is, why 19?

♪♪

My good friend Ed White

called me up,
talked on the phone,

he said, NASA is interested

in adding to
the Mercury 7 astronauts,

and I'm qualified,

so I'm going to apply.

He was selected.
I wasn't.

But I persisted, and in 1963,

I was selected.

NASA was looking for
a new group of astronauts.

I was flying an airplane called
the F-101 Voodoo, which is

probably one of the sexiest,

but most dangerous airplanes
ever built.

Being a fighter pilot
does weed out

the people
who are overly concerned

about their own safety.

So I went off and applied,

and to my amazement,
on my birthday in 1963,

was called by Deke Slayton.

He said, "Hey, how would you
like to come work for us?"

That's how I ended up
going to NASA.

I was feeling it,
I was very confident,

I was cocky.

I was really convinced
that I was in the club.

Okay, I guess you all know

why you're here today,
and why we're here.

We'd like to introduce

the new group of 14 astronauts

that we've been
in the process of selecting

for about the last four months.

I remember thinking, you know,

why are these people
treating us like heroes?

All we did was get on
an airplane and fly to Houston.

And I was
a little embarrassed about it.

Captain Bill Anders,

Kirtland Air Force Base,
New Mexico.

Here I was being
"ooh"ed and "ahh"ed

as an American icon,

who had basically only
escaped Vietnam

as my major accomplishment.

So, I was embarrassed
with the first press conference.

Speaking of integration,

was there a Negro boy
in the last 30 or so

that you brought here
for consideration?

Uh, no there was not.

Okay, I guess we're through,
Paul.

Well, we wanted to break out

for some stills here,

and there may be some people
who want to get special things

but let's keep the stills...

That was my group.

I was expecting
to be a part of that group.

But within the first
three-year window there,

you know, a lot of these guys
got killed.

You know,
so I wasn't the only guy

that had a set of difficulties.

I got it because I was black.

I later found out that
the U.S. Information Agency

took a whole battery
of my pictures,

sent them to Africa,

where
the tracking stations were,

and they had
all these people saying,

"There's a black guy
that's going up!"

Showing them my picture to say,
"Don't go destroy

"the tracking station,
don't be going

and blowing up
our tracking stations,

or messing with them,"

that this guy here is
going to flying over there,

because, in the orbit,
they got to go over Africa.

Well, yeah, it would have been

a grand and glorious event,

if I had have been accepted.

First, if we may,

why aren't you an astronaut now?

I couldn't begin to tell you.

I have no... I have no comment
for that question.

But other than that,

I won't make any
overt statements at this time,

outlining any
overt racial pressures

at any time during
my training at Edwards.

Are you now in fact

completely
out of the astronaut program?

Is there a possibility
of you ever being back in?

I don't know,
I don't have any idea.

Do you feel that
what's happened to you

is a setback for
civil rights opportunities

in this country?

I would rather not comment
on that.

The administrator of NASA
is Mr. James Webb,

and he is standing by now
at NASA's

Goddard Space Flight Center
at Greenbelt, Maryland.

Mr. Webb, what about

this so-called peaceful
competition in space?

When the Soviets orbited
Sputnik 1 around the world,

they scored much more
than a propaganda victory.

They achieved a technological
jump which jolted the world

and served as an open challenge
to us.

NASA was very fortunate
to be led by Jim Webb.

He was a remarkable human being.

He was a very staunch democrat.

He understood the Congress.

He knew where
all the wheels, buttons,

and skeletons were buried.

Instead of driving around
in a Cadillac limousine,

he had a Checker
that was painted black.

You know the Checker cab?

Not as presumptuous
as a Cadillac.

He provided
a fiscal umbrella for us.

We couldn't have made it
without Mr. Webb.

By the summer of 1962,

there was some concern
in the budget bureau

about the cost and dimensions
of what would be required

to do what Kennedy said

we were going to do,

and so there was
a recommendation

that Kennedy
go out and take a look

at what was being done.

He came to Huntsville
to meet von Braun,

and immediately he and von Braun
climbed in a car and drove

into what we called
the fabrication laboratory.

That's where the boosters
were being assembled.

Sir, on this table,

you see an array of rockets
that we are dealing with.

We will very shortly
begin assembly

of the first stages
of the large,

or advanced Saturn C-5,

which is a vehicle designed
to put an American on the moon

in this decade,
and by God we'll do it.

We get over to the test site,

and they fire up the booster.

32 million horse power.

We hold it down
for two-and-a-half minutes.

It never leaves the pad.

And I was standing
with the Secret Service people,

and the president...
He was so excited about it,

he said, "I felt the heat
come up my pants leg,

"and it felt like a hammer

"beating against my chest.

"That's the most...
that's the most impressive thing

I've ever seen."

You know, they had a long,
long conversation.

How's the rocket going to work?

How many times
can we go to the moon?

Is it really going to work
like that when you fly it?

He said, "Yes sir,

it's going to fly
just like that."

The president had never
been around anything like this.

He'd never seen a launch,
even of a missile.

That was the day that

I think Kennedy realized

von Braun knew
what he was doing.

Von Braun was always tainted

by the Nazis underpinnings
of his career.

Kurt Debus was the same way,

and he was the director
of Cape Canaveral.

Debus was a Nazi.

So two of the NASA major centers

were headed by ex-Nazis.

All of these former Nazis
were there.

So we would joke about it,

but we didn't make a big deal
about it,

about the fact
that all of these ex-Nazis

were getting us to the moon.

General, gentlemen,
I want to express

our great satisfaction

in your presence
here in the United States.

This kind of
a joint community effort,

a community of the free nations,

would have been regarded
as impossible two decades ago.

But now we take it very much
for granted.

We are glad you're here,
gentlemen,

we're proud to have you
in the United States.

He was at the Cape
for less than a day.

He'd been given a full briefing
of the Apollo buildup

and the technical requirements
for a moon mission.

And then he went to Houston.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I know that this
is the great moment

we've been looking for,

to welcome to Houston,
to Harris County,

the president
of the United States,

our congressman Albert Thomas,

to Space City, U.S.A.,
which all of them

and their colleagues
were responsible for creating.

This is our way of saying
to you, Mr. President,

Mr. Vice President,
Congressman Thomas, thank you...

The reality was that there was

an influential member
of the House of Representatives

named Albert Thomas
who controlled NASA's money.

And Mr. Thomas
let it be known

if there was going to be
a next NASA center,

it had better be
in his district,

which was south of Houston.

Mr. Mayor, Congressman Thomas,

vice president,
ladies and gentlemen,

as we reach towards the moon,

I think it's most appropriate

that this space center should
be located here in Houston.

Here at Rice University.

And so, the decision

to put the manned space craft
center in Houston

was very political.

Thank you, Mr. President.

In conclusion,
ladies and gentlemen,

let me urge you to attend
the program tomorrow morning

at Rice Stadium.

Be in your seats for 9:30
in the morning, Rice Stadium.

In the last 24 hours,

we have seen facilities
now being created

for the greatest
and most complex exploration

in man's history.

We have felt the ground shake
and the air shattered

by the testing
of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket,

many times as powerful

as the Atlas
which launched John Glenn,

generating power equivalent
to 10,000 automobiles

with their accelerator
on the floor.

We have seen the site
where five F-1 rocket engines,

each one as powerful

as all eight engines
of the Saturn combined,

will be clustered together

to make
the advanced Saturn missile

assembled in a new building
to be built at Cape Canaveral

as tall as a 48-story structure,
as wide as a city block,

and as long as two lengths
of this field.

We have had our failures,
but so have others,

even if they do not admit them,

and they may be less public.

To be sure...

to be sure, we are behind,

and will be behind for some time
in manned flight,

but we do not intend
to stay behind,

and in this decade,
we shall make up

and move ahead.

We choose to go to the moon.

We choose to go to the moon!

We choose to go to the moon
in this decade,

and do the other things,

not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.

Because that goal
will serve to organize

and measure the best
of our energies and skills,

because that challenge

is one that we're willing
to accept,

one we are unwilling
to postpone,

and one we intend to win,
and the others, too.

Many years ago, the great
British explorer George Mallory,

who was to die on Mount Everest,

was asked
why did he want to climb it.

He said because it is there.

Well, space is there,
and we're going to climb it.

And the moon and the planets
are there,

and new hopes for knowledge
and peace are there.

And, therefore, as we set sail,

we ask God's blessing on
the most hazardous and dangerous

and greatest adventure
on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.

♪♪

We just drove to Houston
with all the children.

I was pregnant at the time,

and there was
little accommodation

for population there.

There wasn't even
a grocery store.

A lot of us lived on one street
in Clearlake City,

and we got to know each other
that way,

and the children were little,

so they played together.

And then we all moved to

the new houses that we built.

So when we'd all get together,

we didn't talk
about the space program,

we talked about our contractors
and what disaster

had happened in the construction
of our house.

Janet Armstrong lived
a couple of houses behind me.

Pat White
lived next door to her.

And between neighbors

and those friends,
we sort of had a circle.

Most of our friends who were

in the military with us

were either going to Vietnam
or had been to Vietnam,

and so I thought that was

not as positive a Cold War cause

as the journey to the moon.

I thought that had
a more positive aspect to it.

I just felt like
it was something that would

be a huge gain,
whereas Vietnam was,

to me, no gain at all.

So that had a lot to do with
how I felt about the time,

and how I felt about the risk.

Most of the time,
the men weren't there.

He would get in a T-38
and leave Houston

and be at the Cape
in an hour and a half.

He came home on the weekend,
just in time

to take the water ski boat
and go out and have fun,

for one day,

and then back to the Cape...
And they were gone again.

♪♪

The Mercury guys...

They were difficult
to deal with.

We needed to know
where they were after 5:00.

You know, I had
my share of those evenings

where I was assigned
to follow or track down someone.

You know, they were...

They were young fighter pilots.

There were things that were

taken care of behind the scenes

that would be embarrassing
to the agency.

They were complicated,

very competitive individuals.

A lot of ego got mixed in there,

and there were
lots of women at the Cape

and other places
that thought it was all

very romantic and exciting.

And the moms stayed home,
you know,

the moms stayed home
and took care of the children

and that,
that was sort of mundane

for these men that were

flying fast airplanes and
doing these exciting adventures.

It was...

it was hard on a marriage.

But Bill and I will celebrate
our 60th in a month,

which is a long time.

But the time was never boring.
Never.

We have,
for the past six months,

undertaken a very concentrated
systems engineering study

within NASA,

in determining the mission
we should undertake,

the mission mode
in going to the moon.

In committing this nation

to a program which will extend

over the next five to ten years,

and in which we will spend

many billions of dollars,

it's been absolutely essential

to determine that
we're on the right path.

When the decisions
in Apollo were being made,

the strategy
of getting to the moon

had not been decided.

I think you can now contrast
the two landing configurations.

Basically, the argument
was centered around

the safety and the desirability

of Earth orbit rendezvous,

instead of the more risky
lunar orbit rendezvous.

Here's the situation.

Von Braun wanted
to do Earth orbital rendezvous.

Earth orbital rendezvous
means you put

everything in Earth orbit,

and you assemble it from there.

For example, von Braun wanted
to do a space station

before going to the moon.

The old plan was
we'll build a space station

in Earth orbit,
and then to rendezvous

large pieces of equipment

and to also
launch from Earth orbit.

He was convinced that

Earth orbital rendezvous
was best for the long term.

We do that, and then
we can go beyond the moon.

We could go to Mars.

Sometime, the end of '62,

a decision was made
to alter the strategy.

We can say today
that we have picked

a mode of by what we call
lunar orbit rendezvous.

It means taking off
from the Earth's surface

and going directly to the moon,

and then sending in
a small vehicle

dispatched from
the mother spacecraft.

Well, I'll ask
Dr. Shea to do this...

He's pretty good at it.

The basic mission mode

calls for a single launch
of the vehicle

from the pad at the Cape...

Let's break that into segments.

You need a spacecraft
we can launch him in,

and it'll be the spacecraft
that brings him back.

We have another spacecraft
that we've taken with us,

that can make the landing.

And the configuration
which we then have,

on the way to the moon,

is effectively
this configuration.

Once you decide to commit
to the lunar surface,

you'll now have
your landing legs extended,

and then the vehicle will land
on the lunar surface.

And when it gets to the moon,

now it has to leave
the descent stage on the moon,

bring the ascent stage up
to join up

with the other space craft.

Assuming everything works,

the lunar excursion module

will re-orient itself,

bring itself to a position

where it has a very small
velocity error

and very small linear
displacement

from the mother space craft.

Okay, and then...

You could do this,

but then, you know,
the devil was in the details.

How do you do it?

This was not
a yellow brick road,

from Cape Canaveral to the moon.

It was a hard march.

There were just problems
all the way along.

The Apollo,
or manned lunar program,

is in trouble, deep trouble,
and few experts

at this missile space center
now think the United States

will be able to keep
its self-imposed deadline

of sending men to the moon
before 1970.

The Gemini program

in which men must check out

their critical
rendezvous technique,

is now 18 months behind schedule

and slipping even more
seriously.

And most of the experts

at Cape Canaveral
think that President Kennedy

was over-confident,
in fact, was unrealistic,

when he established
that national goal

28 months ago.

In 1963, severe criticism
of Apollo began to emerge

from a variety of quarters.

So Kennedy was concerned
about this growing criticism

and about
his re-election prospects.

And, in that context,
Kennedy returned to the idea

of cooperating
with the Soviet Union.

Why not do it together?

Including joint missions
to the moon.

♪♪

He had first raised it
with Khrushchev in June of '61.

He met Khrushchev in Vienna

ten days after
his first moon speech.

In 1961, when they met
in Vienna,

JFK mentioned this
to my father...

"Let's try to do it together."

But my father at the time,
he rejected this.

And when I ask why...

"We have to go to the moon,"

I was enthusiastic.

He said, "Americans
much superior than we are,

"and if we start work together,

we will not be able
to keep everything secret."

So my father told no,

Americans
can go ahead without us.

Khrushchev, in 1961,

really didn't know
or trust Kennedy, and so didn't

take his cooperative proposal
very seriously.

But in '63, he had come to
admire and respect Kennedy

and was giving
serious consideration

to accepting Kennedy's proposal.

Why should man's first flight
to the moon

be a matter
of national competition?

Why should the United States
and the Soviet Union,

in preparing
for such expeditions,

become involved in immense
duplications of research,

construction, and expenditure?

Surely we should explore
whether the scientists

and astronauts
of our two countries,

indeed, of all the world,
cannot work together

in the conquest of space.

I include among
these possibilities

a joint expedition to the moon.

Sending someday in this decade
to the moon

not the representatives
of a single nation,

but the representatives
of all of our countries.

It was not propaganda.

It was part of
the Kennedy policy...

We can work together.

Part of my father's policies
was very similar.

My father
was ready to go forward.

We will save our resources
working with Americans

and it will help us politically

in the public relations
with the United States,

so let's do it.

But...

Kennedy was killed
on November 22, 1963,

and Khrushchev
was ousted of power

on October 14, 1964.

And this idea died.

♪♪

He had just been to the Cape
six days earlier,

on November the 16th.

In those last days
before his assassination,

he had gone out,

much to the dismay of
his Secret Service officers,

and stood under
a Saturn 1 rocket

on the launch pad,

while being briefed
by von Braun.

It's clear he was interested,

because he was
pointing at things,

asking questions
about why this, why that.

We only caught occasional words.

Just the mere presence
of this young,

lively, witty president

animated that entire group
that was around him.

The Gemini spacecraft
was brought out

for him,
and he really wanted to know

how the spacecraft would be used

and what it would do

to meet the challenge.

Kennedy was all fired up,

he was really enthusiastic
once again about space.

There's no sign to me that

on the morning of
November the 22nd, 1963,

that John Kennedy
was willing to back off.

From Dallas, Texas,

the flash apparently official,

President Kennedy died at
1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time,

2:00 Eastern Standard Time,
some 38 minutes ago.

♪♪

Yes?

Governor Bryant on 2-1-9-1.

All right.

He'll be right with you, sir.

Mr. President.

How are you, my friend?

We're getting ready
to name Cape Canaveral

- Cape Kennedy.
- Oh, marvelous.

So that all the launches

that go around the world will be

from Cape Kennedy.

I think it'd be
a wonderful thing for your state

and it would probably,
through the years,

bring a lot of attention and...

We're very honored.

I think it's a very fitting
tribute,

because it was his...
Peculiarly his.

Yes, that's right.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪