Apollo 17
December 7, 1972
Apollo 17 launched at 12:33 AM on December 7th — the only night launch in the history of the Apollo program. A technical hold pushed it past midnight. From a hundred miles away, people said it turned night into day. On my television, the Saturn V rose into the darkness…
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Apollo 15
July 31, 1971
Dave Scott drove the Lunar Rover on the Moon today and the television camera on the rover broadcast it live. I watched the Moon scroll past — the mountains, the craters, the edge of Hadley Rille — from my living room. Scott's voice narrating the drive. I will never get…
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Apollo 15
July 26, 1971
Apollo 15 launched today and Dave Scott is going to drive a car on the Moon. The Lunar Roving Vehicle — four wheels, electric motor, built by Boeing — will be folded in the descent stage and deployed on the surface. I've been looking forward to this mission more than…
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Apollo 11
July 21, 1969
Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of the Eagle at 10:56 PM Eastern and stepped onto the Moon. His first words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Buzz Aldrin followed twenty minutes later. I watched on television, the picture grainy and miraculous, and I kept thinking:…
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Apollo 11
July 20, 1969
Sunday, July 20th, 1969. At 4:17 PM Eastern time, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong said: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." I was in my living room. I am not ashamed to say I could not speak…
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Apollo 7
October 11, 1968
Apollo 7 launched this morning. For the first time since the fire twenty-one months ago, American astronauts are in space. Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walt Cunningham rode a Saturn IB into orbit and the spacecraft worked. I watched from home. I was not entirely certain, until I saw the…
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Technology
November 9, 1967
The Saturn V rocket fired for the first time today. Unmanned. All five engines. 7.5 million pounds of thrust. They say people thirty miles away felt it in their chests. They say the sound cracked windows. The cameras at the press site showed the shock wave rolling toward them through…
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Gemini
December 15, 1965
Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 rendezvoused in orbit yesterday — two American spacecraft flying within a foot of each other, 185 miles above Earth. Nobody has ever done anything like this. The pilots waved at each other through their windows. I couldn't understand why I was so moved until Betty…
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Gemini
June 3, 1965
An American walked in space today. Ed White opened the hatch on Gemini 4 and floated outside for twenty-three minutes, tethered to the spacecraft, floating over Earth. The mission commander had to order him back inside. White said it was the saddest moment of his life.
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Mercury
February 20, 1962
John Glenn orbited the Earth three times today. I took a half-day from work and watched on television. When his capsule came down in the Atlantic I realized I had been holding my breath for most of the last four hours. Three orbits. An American in orbit. Finally.
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