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.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

Roger, zero G, and I feel fine.

Okay, I'm out.

How does it feel for the United States to be the new record holder?

At last, huh?

In that baby lights, there's no doubt about it.

Lift-off.

We have a lift-off.

32 minutes past the hour.

Lift-off in Apollo 11.

Listing, uh, tranquility base here.

The Eagle has landed.

That's one small step for man. One giant leap for manned.

Hello and welcome. This is Michael Anis, and you're listening to Episode 298 of the Space Rocket History podcast.

And now, Apollo 14, crew selection.

There were some people who wondered why America's first man in space, Alan Shepard, at age 47, having acquired fame, wealth, and status as an American hero, would risk his life to go to the moon.

After all, Shepard had been one of the original seven Mercury astronauts that had been announced with great fanfare to the public in April of 1959. A native of New Hampshire and a crack Navy aviator, he had made his 15-minute suborbital flight aboard

Freedom 7 in May of 1961. The passage of 10 years had deepened the lines around his

mouth and his blue slightly

bugged eyes, but the toothy grin was the same as it had been on the cover of Life magazine

...