The moon rose above the horizon. Millions of her eyes hailed her appearance as her pale beams

shown gracefully in the clear heavens. One set regarded her disc as a polished mirror

by means of which people could see each other from different points of the earth and interchanged

her thoughts. As for the Yankees, they had no other ambition than to take possession of this

new continent of the sky and to plant upon the summit of its highest elevation to star-spangled

banner with the United States of America. A terrible silence weighed upon the entire scene,

not a breath of wind upon the earth, not a sound of breathing from the countless

chests of the spectators. Their heart seemed afraid to beat. At the 20th, it was a general shutter,

as it occurred to the minds of that vast assemblage and the bold travellers shut up within the projectile

for also counting those terrible seconds. No words can convey the slightest idea of a terrific sound.

An immense spout of fire shot up from the boughs of the earth as from a crater.

The earth heaved up and with great difficulty some few spectators obtained the momentary glimpse

of the projectile to tourist the fleeting of the air in the midst of the fiery vapours.

You're listening to Thru Line from NPR.

50 years since man landed and walked on the moon, we'll be going back in time.

A milestone that will stand in the big history of humanity to understand the present.

Hey, I'm Randad Elfateh. I'm Ramti N'Arablui.

And on today's show, the secret operation that shaped the space race and made the moon landing possible.

So these days, we're hearing a lot about how humans have to go back to space and reach the next

frontier, Mars. Private companies are getting into the game of space travel. Some even have plans to

bring tourists to the moon and it feels like a new kind of space race is emerging.

But for most of human history, the thought of people flying into space, not to mention

...