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To the Moon
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Program Overview
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For two hours in July of 1969, the world stood still as man landed
and walked on the moon. Tens of millions watched it happen, on
blurry black and white television, beamed back a quarter million
miles across the heavens. For the first time in human history, all
mankind could observe a profound discovery as it happened. A
generation later, in July of 1999, a two-hour NOVA special
television event will mark the 30th anniversary of the greatest
science and engineering adventure of all time—going behind the
scenes to tell the stories the astronauts and the unsung heroes of
lunar exploration—the scientists and engineers who made it
happen.
When President John F. Kennedy pledged to put a man on the moon by
the end of the 60s, not a single person in the nascent US space
agency had a clue as to how this would be accomplished. After all,
it was April, 1961, just two weeks after an American flew into space
for the first time.
Everything was unknown and in debate—how would they get there?
And how to return? The technologies—for propulsion,
navigation, and life support—had yet to be invented and
tested. At the time, no computers, batteries, communication, let
alone rockets or spacecraft capable of the mission were on the
drawing boards. The task seemed endless, even impossible. Then,
before the plans were barely outlined, the President was dead,
leaving the mission to continue. The task was daunting.
NOVA's TO THE MOON is a celebration of that remarkable achievement
and an exploration of the future of space technology.
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