the communists seem to be putting us on the defensive on a number of fronts. >> we are behind and i'm sure they are making a concentrated effort to stay ahead. >> we may get beaten more. there are no cheap or easy victories in the game. >> we are aware of the international implications of the project but we're not in this for the race aspects. >> rockets for a lunar trip that will make this one seem puny are already being built. >> the first strides towards the stars were not without setbacks. >> you're aware of the risk. >> we accept the risk.

what risks there are. >> we choose to go to the moon and do this and the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. ♪ ♪

we have a good many talented scientists but we did not make a major effort in this area for many years, and we are now behind and paying the price of having the soviet union exploit the propaganda advantage of sputnik. >> i have marvin cal. cbs news correspondent in moscow on the phone now. marvin, is there any doubt this happened, the russians put a man in space? >> i'm almost certain the russians did fire a man into the outer space. he's 27. it's a great historic scientific feat. >> at that time, we didn't know whether a human could survive in space and here, boom, the soviets send this guy into space

and he survived. >> he was something that affected american progress. that we are ahead of everybody. now it was first sputnik and now first man in space was russian and you can understand that this was really in the middle of the cold war. there was competition of the great super powers. >> president, could you give us your view, sir, about the soviet achievement of putting a man in orbit or what it would mean to our space program? >> it's the most impressive scientific accomplishment. i already sent congratulations to khrushchev and the man who was involved. >> the space race wasn't just about space. it was about our own sense of security. it was this new cold war battle ground and so it wasn't very hard to realize that if they could put a man in orbit, they could also put an atomic bomb in orbit. suddenly the sky was menacing.

>> it means they are getting ahead of us and we certainly need to start working hard to catch up. >> i think it's about time america woke up and did something about it. >> i believe it is very impressive for propaganda purposes. but i think if we put our minds to it, this country can top that in six months. >> from my perspective as a kid, we were in a race against the russians and the russians were the bad guys and they were winning this race and that meant they were superior to us and yet, they were the bad guys. >> in 1960, we had astronauts, we hadn't had anybody in space yet, but we were knocking on the door, we were ready to go. we wanted to catch up and be the leaders. >> do we have the stuff to do it? would you say? >> the united states space program is based on the philosophy that we don't want to

pull a stunt and risk a man's life. for this reason, there are certain intermediate steps planned before we put a man in orbit. if this is successful, then and only then will we orbit. >> the project was the first real response to the sputnik and to gary and it was a big deal for us, i'll tell you because all of a sudden we had seven guys and they were fighter pilot types, very alpha male guys, fun to be around. it was like being with rock stars. ♪ >> it's a great day in houston as citizens turn out by the tens of thousands to give a texas-sized welcome to the u.s. space team. >> they were heroes even before the public knew their names. they became warriors on behalf of the united states against our most feared enemy, the soviet union. >> what they were hiring these guys for was for mind-set. they wanted an experienced test pilot who could observe and report during a very violent and

dangerous activity. >> as we develop the spacecraft, almost everything we do deals with the risky side of the business. we recognize we can get killed flying spacecraft or t-33 or t-38s or driving my corvette. we have a job that's fascinating and it's worth the risk. >> al shepard was a natural leader. he got the first ride into space. >> the shirley temple program usually seen at this time will not be presented in order that we may bring you the following special broadcast. >> within the next few days, the first american will be launched into space. he will not go into orbit but he will ride his spacecraft 116 miles up and will there hang weightless for about five minutes until gravity pulls him back through the atmosphere to the sea nearly 300 miles down the range.

>> astronaut shepard making his way to the elevator. now astronaut shepard sends the plane in a few moments he'll be placed in the capsule. >> ten minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, ignition. lift off. lift off. >> lift off and the clock is started. all systems are go. >> some lawmakers want to award the medal of honor to shepard, some are ready to spend more money on the space effort, all agreed russia is still ahead. all this was beside the point. mrs. alan shepard heard the news

with relief. >> mrs. sheppard, can you tell us, what are your feeling on this vacation? >> i don't have to tell you, do i? i'm so happy. it was beautiful, i thought. >> the flight was a ten. al shepard's flight was a one or a two, okay, in terms of the capability that it demonstrated. so russians clearly were ahead of us, so the attitude is we would like to do something really big, but small enough so we could accomplish it. >> 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. >> i don't know how he decided we could do that because when we

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this is walter cronkite reporting from the capitol, 131 over patterson air force base in dayton, ohio. this aircraft is executing a maneuver to make it and everyone in it temporarily weightless. this weightless condition is one of many that man must learn to tolerate or overcome to survive a first trip to the moon. >> cronkite was the perfect person for space because he was a space junky.

he ended up covering the early mercury missions and he just became encyclopedic on it. >> what are the hazards and what are scientists doing to ensure man's survival in outer space? that is our story. first man on the moon as a prudential insurance company of america presents the 20th century. >> this is marine lieutenant colonial john h. glenn jr. who will be the first american to fly in orbit around the world. >> we're embarking in a new field, space science and i'm happy and proud i can maybe contribute in my own way in this new field. >> john glenn came along next and flew the first orbital flight for an american. to us, that was a huge deal because now we had an american hero who could at least stand

up to uri vergarten. >> god speed, john glenn. three, two, one. this is mercury control. friendship spacecraft has now committed to its third orbit. >> looks good. we'll see you back. >> all right, boy. >> shortly before he is supposed to reenter the atmosphere, the word comes that there is a possibility that glenn's heat shield has detached from the base of the capsule. >> space flight -- >> go ahead. >> we have decided to reenter with the tank on. >> what is the reason for this? do you have any reason, over? >> the only thing holding the heat shield on are three straps, which are attached to the retro

rockets. >> we feel it is far safer to reenter with the retro package on, over. >> roger. understand. >> so normally, the plan is you fire the retro rockets and let them go but now it becomes clear that if glenn does that, he might be burned alive. >> he went through this period of intense ion buildup where you lose contact with him. >> this is cape, do you read, over? friendship 7, this is cape. do you read, over? >> hello, mercury recovery, this is friendship 7. do you read me? >> read you loud and clear, how are you doing? my condition is good, but that was a real fireball, boy. >> i express the great happiness and thanksgiving all of us that glenn has completed his trip. i know this was particularly felt by mrs. glenn and his two children. >> quite a day, you see four beautiful sunsets in one day but it was pretty interesting.

>> now we know russia need not and will not have any monopoly on manned space flight. a new spirit has arisen out of the growing pains of project mercury, a host of new projects will be born. >> you could have gone ahead faster if you had more money earlier, is that right? >> well, this is true. although, there are some limitations. there is an old saying, it takes nine months to have a baby. [ laughter ] rockets, too. >> he was perfectly placed to get us off the planet. he was a german rocket scientist that we were pretty lucky to get after the war. >> von brown was a futurist and a visionary as much as anything else. he built the team that became america's brain trust for rocketry. >> i have come to texas today to

salute an outstanding group of pioneers. headlines may be made by others in other places. history is being made every day by the men and women of the aerospace medical center without whom there could be no history. >> when he was assassinated, that was a personal blow. it was a personal blow to us because he was the guy that got us on this track. >> when president johnson came in, you know, he was going to continue to implement what president kennedy had done. those two men together led us to where we ended up at the end of the decade. >> visiting cape canaveral are the new astronauts. the men who will join the original seven and ride the gemini and the apollo spacecraft. they are the new pioneers of space.

>> we were very fortunate in that our country seemed to have the right person ready when the right person was needed. i give you neil armstrong. >> neil armstrong was unflappable. he was a natural aviator and armstrong just seemed never to be ruffled. >> neil is a cool guy, as we all know. in fact, all of the guys i was working with at the time are all exceptional pilots, so it's great to be on a team like that where they're all winners. >> gemini is the space agency's bridge to the future. with it we'll learn man's true capabilities and drawbacks in space, and on the last five gemini flights, we'll practice the several different forms of rendezvous, the skill needed to supply spacecraft to change crews and the ability to operate in a medium that is fantastically rewarding and terrifyingly dangerous. gemini is a rehearsal for apollo. the three-man spacecraft to get us to the moon. >> the russians surprise washington, d.c. another first. they say he became the first man

to walk around in space. >> when he went outside the spacecraft, they said no, he couldn't have done that but the soviets went outside and came back. it was a shocker. the soviet union pushed americans back. it was part of the game at the time. >> i would say for most of the 60s we had a sense of being behind. it was a perfect launch and but my mom got migraines, so she knew this would help. excedrin migraine starts to relieve my pain in 30 minutes. plus, sensitivity to light and sound, even nausea. excedrin migraine works. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth?

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it was a perfect launch and scorpio 6 is on its way to make space history. >> so look. >> they see it! >> s-o-l. >> no, not sol, sol. >> it was the fabric of the country. it was finding its way into the popular culture. if you grew up in the 50s, you were watching science fiction. but if you grew up in the 60s, you were watching it actually happen. >> i don't want to fire the gun yet. >> when ed white went out on the first eva, people were holding their breath. >> there was a real push to get a spacewalk as soon as possible. that turned out to be gemini 4 and ed white's spacewalk was

just a magnificent thing. >> i'm rolling to the right now under my own influence. there goes a -- looks like a thermal brush. >> it is. >> he went out and had this little nitrogen bottle to fire this thruster that pushed this way and that way so he could rotate himself around and so on and it gave the appearance of being a piece of cake. >> i'm turning over. >> you look beautiful. >> i feel like a million dollars. >> there was absolutely no sensation of falling. there was very little sensation of speed, other than the same type of sensation that we had in the capsule. i think as i stepped out, i thought it was one of the biggest things was the feeling of accomplishment of the goal of the formation. >> the next major breakthrough will be the bringing together of two orbiting craft. the russians have made one test on their program and presumably

have learned something. we have not yet made the first test so we must be considered behind. >> ignition. >> with lunar orbit rendezvous technique, you have to bring these two vehicles together and to get them close in such a way that it was easy to dock them took a fair bit of work. >> flying nose to nose, very clearly see the rising scanners up there. >> roger. >> that was the moment when we pulled ahead in the space race. that was something the russians hadn't even come close to doing and wouldn't accomplish for a couple more years. >> it was an unknown as to how we were going to do that when we first started, but we got good at it and we mastered it on neil armstrong's gemini 8. >> houston, we're keeping it at about 150 feet.

>> way to go, partner. >> you've done it, boy. you've done it. >> good job. >> that's great. >> man, that is really slick. >> okay, gemini 8, looking good on the ground. go ahead and dock. >> they found another object in space and they docked them together to make one big spacecraft or rocket on the nose of the gemini. that was amazing. >> so it's nighttime. power down. have dinner and get ready for the next day and i happened to look over at neil's panel and i saw his eight ball, his attitude in a bank. i said, neil, we're in a bank. >> we've got serious problems here. >> they got up to one revolution a second so we decided to

undock, which we suspected was the problem and then the gemini started spinning very rapidly and then we figured out, oh, it's the gemini. >> what seems to be the problem? >> it's rolling and we can't turn anything off. >> did he say he could not turn the agena off? >> he said he separated and did a roll and can't stop it. >> the only way to get out was for him to fire the thruster. >> that stop the spinning spacecraft before it spun so much that they passed out. >> we got down alive and neil said, i think we'll both have another chance and we did. >> a week in space, cbs news

coverage of gemini 9, 2 1/2 hour walk in space, reporting from the cbs news center walter cronkite. >> the spacewalk is over. the hatch is locked closed again, safely back in the spacecraft. a disappointing spacewalk in a true sense. >> the only thing we did not do well was eva, extra vehicular activity. for the last flight gemini 12, buzz brought in the idea of training in the water tank. >> i was a scuba diver from 1957 so i knew a bit about dealing with currents and moving around and spacewalking. it was very delicate moving and you balance so you don't exert yourself. so i started training underwater. >> buzz put all that together and the final eva was done very much by the book. it was a big success. >> so i was standing up in the hatch and looking around and took a couple pictures of texas

and the astrodome and i decided to just turn around and take a picture. nothing unusual about that. but that was the first selfie in space. >> gemini 12. gemini 12. >> when gemini was over, the team of people, planners, astronauts, and people in the control center were completely synced and we came out with confidence in ourselves. it was like let us have this apollo stuff, we're going to take it to the moon as fast as we possibly can. whoa, no test rides allowed. i can't show you the inside, but trust me. are you kidding me... at university of phoenix, we think you should be able to try before you buy. that's why we offer students new to college a risk-free period. so you commit to your education with confidence. get started at phoenixtrial.com

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i recognize that there is some risk. people might look at our work as being perhaps dangerous, but we just try to take as much of that out as we can during the pretesting to make sure the systems are good. i think we train in it and work in it so much and understand it well enough that we don't look at it from this view point. >> how far i want to go, i want to go as far as nasa goes and during my useful time as a pilot for them. i'd like to go on a moon night and if we go to mars tomorrow, i want to go on that. >> nasa is looking ahead to the first manned apollo flight.

they had a lot of problems with this spacecraft but they figure when you develop any new spacecraft, you're going to have bugs. >> no, i didn't read you at all. i can't read you, chuck. you want to try the phone? >> we got to get to the moon but we can't get through three buildings. >> i can't hear a thing you're saying. >> the regularly scheduled program will not be seen at this time, in order to bring you this special program. >> it was all over in one stunned horrifying second. at t minus ten seconds, an electrical spark apparently shot out and ignited the 100% oxygen in the cabin. on closed tv screens, engineers watched the burst of flames and smoke.

they heard their last words of shock and surprise. the flames enveloped apollo 1. the crewmen never had a chance. >> news of the tragedy reached the white house shortly after the formal signing of a 60-nation space treaty. president johnson immediately sent condolences to the families of the astronauts, then he issued this statement, three valiant young men have given their lives in service to our nation. we mourn the great loss and our hearts go out to their families. >> the apollo fire was a shock to those of us in the program. it was a real shock. it was devastating. how could we put these guys in there? how could we not see how dangerous it was? how could we do that? [ taps playing ] >> there is reason to believe establishing a deadline of 1970 for the moon flight contributed to their deaths. nasa acknowledged success had

dulled the earlier apprehensions but it is determined not to let it revived fears paralyze the future efforts and that seems the proper attitude. >> your option to stop or to keep going, in some ways, it is almost insulting to their memories to stop. you want to fix the problem and keep going and achieve the goal. that's what those guys would have wanted. >> any endeavor will meet with tragedy and failure. that's how humankind progressed. the complete reorganization of the apollo space program without a doubt happened because of the fire. >> at the langley center and accomplished acrobat gave basic training in moon walking to this reporter. >> i feel like peter pan. >> he was like a big kid in a candy store. when you do on tv and you want to talk about something happening, the best way to do it is to go out and do it yourself and walter enjoyed it. >> what happens if i fall over on my face?

>> nothing at all. very simple, very soft. slow motion in fact. just -- >> so i fall over on my face to see? >> right, dust yourself off. >> really? >> right. >> okay. here i go. >> oh. >> nothing to it. >> why don't you try jumping a little bit? >> here i go. this is just really for fun and games. what do you do for a living? >> what do you see in the way of the vehicle in which we travel in space in the next 35 years, already in the last 15 years, we built up this system of rockets to the point that your model doesn't even fit in the room any longer. are we going far beyond saturn 5? >> i think there will be a continued need for some such a workhorse and rather arbitrary how big it will be as long as it is big. >> the saturn 5 is like the mythic monument to human audacity.

no matter how you look at it, this thing was just a mind-blower. >> saturn 5 is three big rockets stacked on top of each other. with the spacecraft on the top with three guys on it, you knew that that sucker was going someplace. it had a purpose in mind and it was going someplace. >> you get to december of 1968 and frank and jim and bill have been training to fly the first flight around the moon. >> we kind of feel that this flight set the pace to begin the lunar landing apollo program. >> the countdown to liftoff for apollo 8 is now t-minus 15 minutes and counting. this will be the first manned flight of the saturn 5, the largest rocket man has ever built. and it has the explosive potential in its fuel of 2.5 million tons of tnt.

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three, two, one, zero. we have commenced -- we have liftoff. we have cleared the tower. >> there is the rumble in the building. it looks good. it looks like a good flight. this building is shaking under us. a camera platform is shaking but what a beautiful flight. >> we interrupt this program to present another in a series of onboard television trance missions from the space cap you will brought to you by tang, the breakfast drink of champions. >> apollo 8, 175,450 miles from earth and about to be pulled in by the moon's gravity. the astronauts have now truly left the earth and its gravity. for this second telecast, turned

apollo 8 so it faces the earth. here is communications coming through. >> you're seeing the atmosphere, i can see the southwestern part of the united states and it appears now that the east coast is cloudy. >> apollo 8 around christmas of 1968 showed us the craters of the moon and then shows us the earth at the same time and spoke to us. they read the book of genesis. >> the waters under the heavens be together in one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. and god called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called these seas. god saw that it was good. and from the crew of apollo 8 merry christmas and god bless all of you, all of you on the good earth.

>> the far side of the moon and the earth rise for the first time seen by human eyes as well as the television broadcast from orbit of the moon on christmas eve. holy smokes, who wrote that? who is the genius that wrote that script? pretty good. >> 1968 was a tough year for the country, assassinations, bad stuff happening in vietnam but a great way to end it with people going around the moon for the first time. nobody has been able to do it since, except for the united states. >> then apollo 9 goes up a few month later. does everything it needs to do in earth orbit. then you have apollo 10 that does the same thing that apollo 9 does but except they fly all the way to the moon to do it in lunar orbit. that works fine. they come back, nobody paid attention to apollo 10.

they risked death just like everybody and it's this forgotten thing. oh, yeah, they did that too, what a shame they didn't get to land on the moon. and a few months later it came down to apollo 11. >> what kind of physical sensation do you expect at actual touchdown? >> i hope it will be relatively mild. there is no intention to make a smooth touchdown we would prefer to come in several feet per second so that we will collapse the struts. so that that bottom step on the ladder is close enough to get down on the moon and more important, close enough to get back up. >> this is cbs coverage of man on the moon. >> it was almost like this enormous fly wheel of momentum was gathering speed and the level of public attention on those three astronauts and

especially on neil armstrong, because by that time we all knew neil was going to be the first one to put his foot on the moon. >> aldrin will follow 20 minutes later, armstrong will take that first step in more ways than one. here they are as they left the space center at about 6:30 this morning. there the van backs up through the cage elevator and takes them up a couple floors to the second level and then out of that cage and across a few feet through a large hatch in the structure. >> the countdown going well, 28 minutes and counting. that's a picture there of former president johnson and mrs. johnson as they arrive in that

vip viewing area. >> our transfer is complete. internal power with the launch vehicle at this time. t minus 15 seconds away from the apollo 11 liftoff and guidance is internal, ten, nine, ignition sequence starts, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. ♪

♪ >> velocity approximately 2,091 feet per second. >> be advised the visual is a go today. >> they are finally giving me a window to look out. ♪ >> apollo 11, this is houston. you are confirmed to go forward. plus, sensitivity to light and sound, even nausea. excedrin migraine works.

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back here at our cbs news space headquarters, we're watching the countdown to the landing on the moon and waiting for the spacecraft to come around on this side of the moon again so we can get confirmation that all is still going well. >> 11, you got a pretty big audience. this is live in the u.s., going live to japan, western europe and much of south america. appreciate the great show. >> they weren't just going on a pleasure cruise here.

they had a lot of work to do. >> they needed to be on the top of their game working together as a crew and with the control center. so they were probably in the zone. i would have been in the zone big-time. >> everything had been tried on the missions leading up to that point except the landing itself. and there was a good reason for that. the landing was the most complex part of the entire apollo mission. it was essentially a controlled fall. >> go for landing, 3,000 feet. >> we're go. hang tight. we're a go. >> two and a half. >> neil armstrong took over manually during the descent because they were coming down in an area that was the planned area to land, but there were boulders and some other kind of stuff. so he had to maneuver the lunar lander from where it was committed to land. >> picking up some dust. >> which also caused everybody to start to worry, because they had a finite amount of fuel.

so for him to do what he did caused everybody on the ground to get really nervous. >> pull forward. drift to the right a little. >> contact right. the eagle has landed. >> copy, tranquility. we copy on the ground. we have a bunch of guys that are about to turn blue. >> armstrong is on the moon. neil armstrong, 38-year-old american, standing on the surface of the moon on this july 20th, 1969. >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> it was a moment when it seemed like the whole country and a even most of the world kind of stopped in their tracks and just took all this in with a sense of wonder and almost disbelief. my god, can this really be happening? >> oh, that looks beautiful. >> it looks different, but it's very pretty out here. >> okay, ready for me to come out? >> all set. >> okay.

i'm on the top step. >> you have got three more steps and then a long one. there you go. we'll raise the flag on the landing gear. from the planet earth, first to step foot on the moon july 1969. we came in peace for all mankind. >> the real moment of truth is next. they still have to get off the surface of the moon. they push the button on the computer, and then bang. they see the moon receding from them. and then some minutes later, they're back in lunar orbit, and they're on their way to rendezvous with mike collins. >> although the entire world could watch the apollo 11 astronauts take man's first steps on the moon, the predawn darkness of the mid pacific obscured their return to earth. so it was already daylight when the carrier hornet approached and found columbia in the ocean swells. >> i want you to know that i think i'm the luckiest man in

the world because i have the privilege of speaking for so many in welcoming you back to earth. ♪ >> it was such a huge event in our country's history. i grew up in new york. this was bigger than the mets winning the world series in '69. i remember as a little boy looking up to them thinking these guys are even cooler than the beatles. these guys are the epitome of cool. >> there was another one of these suckers scheduled for november. so the people who did it were so busy getting ready for the next one, they didn't have time to celebrate the first one. >> apollo 12, houston.

>> hello, houston. yankee clipper with intrepid has arrived on time. >> we didn't actually spend much time asking ourselves about the greater meaning of this. we weren't aware of what was going on around the world in terms of the reaction of people. we just pressed right on. >> i think i see my crater. there it is, there it is! son of a gun, right down the middle of the road. >> outstanding, 42 degrees. >> it wasn't until afterwards that we began to realize the depth of the significance of it. >> until apollo 11, the moon was an unobtainable mystery. but after apollo 11, the moon is mysterious no longer. >> all of human experience will be divided into two eras. before man walked on the moon and after man walked on the moon. >> the whole world was together at that particular moment. it was an example that in spite of all that's going on down here, inspite of all that we're going through, there's hope. >> my generation is the generation that changed the moon from an object to a place. and that will never happen

again. there can only be one first time. >> the space program in the 1960s, it set the standard of what we could do. we even say today we can land a man on the moon, but we can't do this. when we think within the space program we're like, go to mars? yeah, we can go to mars. we went to the moon in 1969. we can do anything. >> to all those americans who built those spacecraft and put their heart and all their abilities into those crafts, to those people, tonight we give a special thank you. to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, god bless you. good night from apollo 11.

the enemy of freedom has chosen to make this year the decisive one. >> something's going to happen. the change is on the way. >> we can change america. we can change the world. >> what we need now is a reconciliation in this land. >> there's not anything wrong with you that a good hair cut wouldn't cure. >> rest assured we democrats will stir it up. >> this election year of 1968 has touched emotions. >> i think we have too much violence in this country. >> we go up together, or we go down together. >> and we have that