0:00:16 > 0:00:21The moon. To get there you have to fly at 25,000 miles an hour.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28You have to travel a quarter of a million miles there...
0:00:30 > 0:00:31..and a quarter of a million miles back.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39And when you return to Earth, your spaceship has to survive
0:00:39 > 0:00:42re-entry temperatures of 2,500 degrees centigrade.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45And we've done it.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56I'm Professor Brian Cox.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00I'm a physicist, and as long as I can remember,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04I've been captivated by the story of our journey to the moon.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Telling that story over the years, and inspiring me along the way,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15were BBC presenters like James Burke and Patrick Moore.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18- Patrick Moore, what did you think of that?- Quite incredible.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22From the early days of animals in space...
0:01:22 > 0:01:24I'm at the foot of the ladder.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27..to Armstrong's momentous first steps...
0:01:27 > 0:01:29There is Armstrong...
0:01:29 > 0:01:31..to the near tragedy of Apollo 13...
0:01:31 > 0:01:36- 'OK, Houston, we've had a problem.' - Say again, please? - 'Houston, we've had a problem.'
0:01:36 > 0:01:39..the BBC covered the whole story.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42And we've just heard that all over the world there are
0:01:42 > 0:01:4633 countries that have stayed up to take these pictures live.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50I believe that the Apollo moon landings were the greatest
0:01:50 > 0:01:57achievement in human history, the last time we reached for something beyond our grasp, and made it.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59But that was 40 years ago.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04So what was it about July 1969 that brought the moon within our reach,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07and why haven't we been back for 37 years?
0:02:11 > 0:02:15This is the story of how we walked on the moon, of the technology
0:02:15 > 0:02:20that enabled it to happen, the politics that demanded it happen,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and the triumph of the human spirit that made it happen.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39We've all got used to the remarkable fact that humans have walked on the moon.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42And it's easy to forget that only fifty years ago,
0:02:42 > 0:02:47the moon was another world, technologically out of reach.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50But then the Cold War began.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55It created a climate of fear and insecurity,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59but also brought about the international competition
0:02:59 > 0:03:02that would drive humanity towards the stars.
0:03:02 > 0:03:09In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14A new era had begun.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22CHIRPING
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Until two days ago that sound had never been heard on this Earth.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31Suddenly it has become as much a part of 20th century life as the whirr of your vacuum cleaner.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37It's a report from man's farthest frontier, the radio signal transmitted by the Soviet Sputnik,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40the first man-made satellite as it passed over New York earlier today.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Right now, it's over Auckland, New Zealand.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47According to the latest Soviet announcement the satellite is still
0:03:47 > 0:03:52maintaining its speed of 18,000 miles an hour, a dozen times faster than any man has ever flown.
0:03:54 > 0:04:01But despite the achievement, the public couldn't help but see things through the prism of Cold War fear.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05- Do you admire the Russians for doing it?- No, definitely not.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08We should've been the first ones to have it, such things.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13It gets the American people alarmed that a foreign country, especially
0:04:13 > 0:04:16an enemy country, can do this, and we fear this.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19We fear that they have something that the majority of people don't know about.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Definitely alarmed.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24What do you think about America not being able to do the same?
0:04:26 > 0:04:32Well, if I was in military service and fell down on the job like that, I could stand a court martial.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Somebody's falling down on the job, badly.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Sputnik's mocking beeps marked the beginning of the space race.
0:04:41 > 0:04:47The cosy myth of American technological superiority over Soviet Russia was shattered overnight.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52The Soviet Union had managed to launch Sputnik into orbit 500 miles
0:04:52 > 0:04:57above the surface of the Earth, travelling at 18,000 miles an hour.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00It was an enormous challenge to America's pride, and
0:05:00 > 0:05:06a direct challenge to the supposed supremacy of the capitalist system.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11For the next 15 years, space became the frontline of the Cold War, and,
0:05:11 > 0:05:16initially at least, America failed to dominate.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19This was to be America's answer to Sputnik, the Explorer satellite.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24To hurl it into space, the Vanguard, a navy research rocket.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28The Soviets had used a military rocket, a missile, for their space shot.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32President Eisenhower wanted the American's entry into space to have
0:05:32 > 0:05:35the appearance, at least, of a non-military enterprise.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39But Vanguard gave the world another image of American technology.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54'100 million dollars has just gone up in a huge, red orange ball of smoke.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57'We don't know what caused the failure.'
0:05:57 > 0:06:01My first reaction, I believe, is the normal reaction of every American.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05- I'm disappointed.- Disappointment alone wasn't enough to help them
0:06:05 > 0:06:09catch up, as the Russians soon reached another historic landmark.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20The Soviet Union has launched a second Earth satellite.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25The satellite is carrying a dog as experimental passenger.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30Laika the dog had been launched into space with no possibility of returning to Earth.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Even in the '50s, animal rights activists were vocal.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37The party from the canine defence league have now come out of the Embassy.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Are you going to take any further steps, Mr Johns?
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Well, we are asking dog lovers everywhere to observe a silent
0:06:44 > 0:06:51minute at 11 o'clock each morning, while this dog is in outer space.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Laika's loneliness was short-lived.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Though the Soviets claimed she had survived for several days,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00almost 50 years later, the truth came out.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04In 2002, they admitted that the dog astronaut
0:07:04 > 0:07:07died within a few hours of take-off.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10By now the Americans weren't far behind,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14and one year later they sent a chimp named Ham into space.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17This was the first big venture of the newly-created
0:07:17 > 0:07:21National Aeronautics And Space Administration, NASA.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27This time, the Red Stone rocket lobbed Ham safely into space.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34He returned after a few minutes in that new environment apparently healthy, if a little confused.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53In 1961, the Russians were once again
0:07:53 > 0:07:56the first to reach a major milestone
0:07:56 > 0:08:00when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07This is the BBC Home Service. Here is the news.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10All Moscow is waiting to give a hero's welcome
0:08:10 > 0:08:15to the world's first spaceman, Major Gagarin of the Soviet Air Force.
0:08:15 > 0:08:21Major Gagarin was sent up in his 4.5 tonne spaceship from somewhere in the Soviet Union.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25As he looked down on the Earth from the loneliness of space,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28he streaked across Asia, Africa, and South America,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31controlling the pitch and roll of the ship.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37Shortly after the news was given of the flight, Tom German interviewed Sir Bernard Lovell at Jodrell Bank.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41I think this is one of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45It's remarkable when one realises that this success has been achieved
0:08:45 > 0:08:48by a nation that a generation ago was largely illiterate.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55The Russians celebrated yet more proof of Soviet superiority.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59And, finally, here was an achievement so momentous
0:08:59 > 0:09:02that it transcended earthly rivalries.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- What do you think of the news? - I think it's fantastic.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17- I can tell you he's now back, safe and sound.- Really? I didn't think he would get back.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19What do you feel about this generally?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Do you think the Russians have whacked us?
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Definitely, I really do. I think it's a marvellous achievement.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27There'll soon be a man on the moon at this rate.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Such was Gagarin's accomplishment that the BBC pushed the televisual
0:09:32 > 0:09:33boundaries of the time
0:09:33 > 0:09:37with a live broadcast of his triumphant homecoming.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40This is Richard Dimbleby in the BBC TV studio in London.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43You're looking, if you've just turned on your television sets
0:09:43 > 0:09:48today, at the first time, perhaps, to a live television picture from Soviet Russia.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54And in spite of those flashes now and then, this is remarkable achievement, getting a picture,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59through all those different links and short waves, and other waves, and being able to show an aeroplane
0:09:59 > 0:10:03propeller whirling round as we were seeing it right in front of our faces just now from such a distance.
0:10:06 > 0:10:13Here is a man who has done and seen things that no other living person has done or seen.
0:10:17 > 0:10:23And there is Mr Kruschev. HE SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Mr Krushchev embraces him, kissing...
0:10:29 > 0:10:35There's certainly enthusiasm, and I can well understand why they feel so enthusiastic.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Once again, America tasted humiliation in the space race.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43But perhaps it was what the country needed.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Gagarin's obvious good health after his orbit of the Earth galvanised NASA's doctors.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52The fact that Yuri Gagarin flew and flew successfully
0:10:52 > 0:10:55from a life scientist's point of view, in the way he'd gone up
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and come back and appeared to be in very good shape,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01I think was a very positive stimulus to the programme because it
0:11:01 > 0:11:05demonstrated clearly that this new environment was perhaps not quite
0:11:05 > 0:11:07so bad as everyone had anticipated,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and I think it made it easier to put Alan Shepherd into flight,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14although quite frankly we would've done it in any case,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16whether Gagarin had flown or not.
0:11:16 > 0:11:23Three weeks after Gagarin's flight, a Red Stone rocket awaited the arrival of American's first astronaut.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26It was the early morning of 5 May, 1961.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31Alan Shepherd's arrival at the launch pad was conspicuously different from Gagarin's.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34America was to conduct its space programme in public.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Taken aback at first by this policy, the man who directed most of
0:11:38 > 0:11:41American's manned space flights, Christopher Craft.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44For those of us who were working on the programme daily, it was
0:11:44 > 0:11:48inconceivable to us that we were going to have real time television
0:11:48 > 0:11:54of a missile launch from Cape Canaveral because of the dangers associated with that,
0:11:54 > 0:12:00the fact that we were going to be in a looking glass of the world, it never crossed our minds.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03That's what happened the day we flew Alan Shepherd.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07It was an exciting time,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10it was a time of competition with the Russians.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Just before we flew Alan Shepherd the Russians had flown
0:12:14 > 0:12:19Gagarin in space and put him in orbit and here we were just putting Shepherd into sub-orbital flight.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22We were very disappointed that
0:12:22 > 0:12:27we'd lost that part of the race but at the same time even
0:12:27 > 0:12:30then we couldn't conceive the attention it was going to be given.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34We thought maybe that'd taken some of the pressure off the situation but it hadn't.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Shepherd's five minute entry into space showed that an American,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44as well as a Russian, could survive there.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49But before the first American even went into orbit around the Earth, the US was committed to the moon.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Kennedy's new administration, only four months old, was in trouble.
0:12:53 > 0:12:59The economy, the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, the Gagarin flight.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Kennedy urgently needed proof of his new frontier.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06His Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, was an ardent supporter of the space programme.
0:13:06 > 0:13:12In a memo to Johnson, Kennedy asked his Vice President to identify a goal in space
0:13:12 > 0:13:15that America had the best chance of reaching before the Russians.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Johnson's answer was prompt, the most difficult goal of all,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22allowing America time to overtake the Russian lead.
0:13:26 > 0:13:33Johnson's response prompted President Kennedy to make one of the most memorable political speeches
0:13:33 > 0:13:37in history, and set America on course to a new world.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49and returning him safely to the Earth.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52No single space project in this period will be more impressive
0:13:52 > 0:13:57to mankind, or more important for the long range exploration of space.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05While Congress applauded, and agreed to the moon commitment without even taking a vote,
0:14:05 > 0:14:10NASA now had a clear goal, and for the moment at least, a blank cheque.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12NASA had pushed for the moon programme,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16but when Kennedy's challenge came, many in the Agency were aghast.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20When he said that we were going to go land men on the moon and
0:14:20 > 0:14:23bring them back safely by the end of the decade,
0:14:23 > 0:14:29some of us thought that was biting off a little bit more than we could tolerate.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Here we were in the throws of still trying to fly our first orbital
0:14:33 > 0:14:36flight, and someone said we were going to go land men on the moon.
0:14:36 > 0:14:43Kennedy's speech in 1961 was, in my opinion, one of the great political speeches.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48"We choose to go to the moon not because it's easy, but because it's hard."
0:14:48 > 0:14:55How many politicians today can you imagine aiming for an almost unachievable goal?
0:14:55 > 0:15:00The plan was stunningly ambitious, and it presented NASA with numerous
0:15:00 > 0:15:05challenges, not least finding men who were made of the right stuff.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I'm going, I'm going! It's fantastic!
0:15:08 > 0:15:11It's unbelievable!
0:15:11 > 0:15:13It's the most extraordinary feeling!
0:15:13 > 0:15:20In 1979, James Burke, the face of BBC Science, looked back at the selection criteria.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25Back in December 1958 if you had wanted to be an astronaut, the announcement made it sound simple.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31Basic requirements, aged between 25-40, under 5'11", it was going to be a small spacecraft,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34science degree qualifications, qualified jet test pilot, healthy,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37experienced in dangerous and stressful situations.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40The selectors also said they were looking for high intelligence,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42ability to command, ability to take orders, motivation,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46creativity, mathematical ability, sociability, adaptability, maturity,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48decency, psychological stability.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Could you sit absolutely still in a dangerous situation? How are you doing so far?
0:15:51 > 0:15:55But then candidates, and there were 508 of them, had to go through
0:15:55 > 0:16:00exhaustive interviews in Washington, followed by every known medical test, including sperm count,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04at the interestingly named Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09That cut them down to 31, and then it was off to secret midnight rendezvous in groups of five
0:16:09 > 0:16:12in Dayton, Ohio for what was known as stress testing.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Your foot was in a bucket of ice water, there was a flash of light
0:16:16 > 0:16:20in your eye, very painful, you spent ten hours in a darkened room.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Some of the stuff, today we realise was unnecessary.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28I think, though, that the doctors didn't know what the people would get
0:16:28 > 0:16:32into in space so they were trying to make sure we were immune to just about anything.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35They also dropped them, spun them, heated them, tilted them,
0:16:35 > 0:16:40made them run on treadmills, and vibrated them until they indicated that they'd had enough.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49As somebody said at the time, once you've chosen your supermen,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52that only leaves you about 10,000 other problems to solve.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Let's take a look at some of the major ones.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Not least, how do you get men to the moon?
0:16:57 > 0:17:02The trouble with that is that what goes up tends to come down.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08At the time they were doing a bigger version of that with inter-continental ballistic missiles,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10which is why they thought they could go to the moon at all.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14All they had to do was to stop the rocket falling back to Earth.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And that's where the idea of an orbit comes in.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20If you fire with sufficient power,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23the rocket will come down halfway across the world but at an angle.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Reach a speed of over 17,000 miles an hour and the rocket will fall,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31but miss the Earth and go on missing it like this.
0:17:34 > 0:17:40Next, you boost your speed to over 25,000 miles an hour, and the rocket will follow a new orbit,
0:17:40 > 0:17:46still trying to fall to Earth, but going out over 250,000 miles into space before doing so, like this.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51If the rocket's intercepted at this point by the moon, the moon's gravitational field attracts
0:17:51 > 0:17:56the rocket just enough to change its orbit, swing it round the back of the moon and head to Earth.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05A touch on the break pedal, as it were, and you stay in orbit around the moon.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Another touch, and you land.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14All you have to have to be able to do that is one of these, a Saturn V.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And that is your next major problem.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20How do you build one of these monsters safe enough and accurate
0:18:20 > 0:18:24enough to risk putting men on top and shooting them at the moon?
0:18:27 > 0:18:30The answer to that question is that you give it
0:18:30 > 0:18:33to many different people to each build and test one part.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36The figures on the Saturn V were astronomical.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41This first stage, made by Boeing, carried 530,000 gallons of fuel
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and accelerated to 6,000 miles an hour in two and half minutes.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Stage two, built by North American Aviation, increased the speed
0:18:52 > 0:18:55to over 15,000 miles an hour and went up to 600,000 feet.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01The third stage, built by McDonnell Douglas, would eventually
0:19:01 > 0:19:05take the speed up to 25,000 miles an hour, escape velocity.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10With the housing for the lunar module, the mother spacecraft and the launch escape tower,
0:19:10 > 0:19:15the whole stack reached a mind-boggling 363 feet end to end.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19In 1967, there was still a long way to go before anyone would land
0:19:19 > 0:19:25on the moon, and as the space race stepped up a gear, corners were cut.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28As training was underway for the first manned Apollo mission,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31there were already concerns about the dangers.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Apollo 1. Its crew, Gus Grissom, veteran of Mercury and Gemini,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Ed White, the space walker of Gemini IV, novice astronaut Roger Chaffee.
0:19:41 > 0:19:48A few weeks before the first test of Apollo in Earth orbit, the Apollo 1 crew meets the press at Pad 34.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56They show off their new space suits in front of the Saturn Rocket already on the Pad.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01Three years remain before the decade is out, and the moon now seems very close.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Grissom, White and Chaffee clown self-consciously
0:20:04 > 0:20:07with the water wings built into their suits,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09but not everyone at NASA was happy.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16A scathing assessment of the quality of the work being done on the Apollo spacecraft had been delivered
0:20:16 > 0:20:21to the industry contractor a year earlier by Apollo programme director, General Samuel Phillips.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23General Phillips had pointed out
0:20:23 > 0:20:25a number of deficiencies in the spacecraft.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30There isn't any engineering development some areas that are not
0:20:30 > 0:20:34designed as well or do not function as well as others.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37These were not being changed
0:20:37 > 0:20:40mainly because of a schedule that had to be maintained.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45And the schedule was dictated by political pressure to beat the Russians to the moon.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- We must always keep this in focus. - And now the price was to be paid.
0:20:48 > 0:20:54On Pad 34, the Apollo 1 crew was nearing the end of a simulated countdown.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59This film of the crew was taken a few days earlier during a similar test of the spacecraft.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04During the countdown several minor but irritating problems had cropped up.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Then, there was a surge of electrical current,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09followed by voices in the spacecraft calling out that a fire had started.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14We interrupt this programme for a special CBS news report.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16Astronauts Virgil Grissom,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Edward White and Roger Chaffee,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22were killed tonight in flash fire,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26during tests of the Apollo Saturn 204 Vehicle
0:21:26 > 0:21:29at Cape Kennedy Air Force base.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33The fire occurred while the astronauts were in the spacecraft,
0:21:33 > 0:21:38at T minus 10 minutes prior to the planned simulated lift-off.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42When the hatch was opened you could see just a void, it was dark.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48The Pad leader reported to me that he could see no-one in there.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51What had happened was that the...
0:21:53 > 0:21:55..fire, which had...
0:21:55 > 0:21:58reached a pressure point in 19 seconds and burst
0:21:58 > 0:22:02the bottom part of the spacecraft, had blackened everything.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10We tried to get the medics up there but there really wasn't anything we could do. It was over so fast.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Smoke and fire had erupted through the wall of the spacecraft.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Workers on the platform struggled to open the hatches
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and to fight the fire with hopelessly inadequate equipment.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22It took five minutes to get the hatches open.
0:22:22 > 0:22:29Inside the charred smoke-filled interior, Grissom, White, and Chaffee lay dead of asphyxiation.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The charred spacecraft, wrapped to keep it from the eyes of newsmen,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35was removed from Pad 34 a few days later.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38At the moment the fire happened, the craft was being filled
0:22:38 > 0:22:42with the atmosphere of pure oxygen the crew would breathe in space.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46It was incredibly vulnerable to fire.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00It wasn't only Americans who were dying for their lunar dream.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05Just three months later, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov crash-landed
0:23:05 > 0:23:07when his parachutes failed to deploy.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13The first announcement of the cosmonaut's death came from the Taj Press Agency.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17Moscow Radio interrupted its early morning bulletin to read it
0:23:17 > 0:23:21and followed the reading by solemn music.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Despite the tragedies, the space race continued.
0:23:25 > 0:23:32In 1968, the Russians seemed about to take a last-minute gamble on sending someone to the moon,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36despite the fact that their space programme had been lagging behind.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40It wasn't until 1990
0:23:40 > 0:23:46that Horizon was allowed a glimpse inside a 1960s Soviet lunar lander.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49It looked more like the inside of a steam train than a spaceship.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56This was where the cosmonaut would stand, clutching two levers.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58It was surprisingly primitive.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02But rumours of a Russian lunar voyage were enough to scare
0:24:02 > 0:24:04the Americans, who accelerated their own plans.
0:24:04 > 0:24:10The Russian intention, proclaimed on the front page of Pravda, was one reason for a change of plan.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16This was another, work on the lunar landing module, the LEM, had fallen behind schedule.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21The LEM had been due to fly on the Saturn V and be tested in Earth orbit.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25With the LEM not ready, and the Russians threatening, NASA re-thought the mission.
0:24:25 > 0:24:31The first Saturn V to carry men would take them not just around the Earth, but around the moon.
0:24:31 > 0:24:38That initial suggestion was sort of awesome to think about,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41because we had not been working to go to the moon at that point,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44we were going to at best another six months later.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Just a few days before Christmas in 1968,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Three, two, one, zero.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14We have lift-off, lift-off at 7:51 am Eastern Standard Time.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40Now until that time, the furthest any human had been from the surface of the Earth was a few hundred
0:25:40 > 0:25:45miles, but Apollo 8 was to journey a quarter of a million miles further.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50And as the spacecraft passed behind the dark side of the moon,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Borman, Lovell and Anders would become the first humans
0:25:54 > 0:25:57to lose sight completely of their home.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The journey to the moon would take almost three days.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06In mission control in Houston, Director of Flight Operations Craft
0:26:06 > 0:26:09and his colleagues could do little but wait and watch.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14On board, Jim Lovell's navigation was pinpoint accurate.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17At 4am, Houston time, the 24 December, Apollo 8
0:26:17 > 0:26:21went behind the moon and fired its engine to drop into lunar orbit.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25We've got it, we've got it, Apollo 8 now in lunar orbit,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29there's a cheer in this room, this is Apollo Control Houston,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32switching to the voice of Jim Lovell.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Apollo 8, Houston, what does the old moon look like from 60 miles? Over.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46OK, Houston, the moon is essentially grey,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50no colour, looks like plaster of Paris,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54the craters are all rounded off, there's quite a few of them, some of them are newer.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59I think that each one of us carries his own impression of what he's seen today.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01I know my own impression is
0:27:01 > 0:27:08that it's a vast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12It certainly would not appear to be an inviting place to live or work.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19And BBC One have just joined us, I'd like to welcome their viewers.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23As you heard, they're signing off in order to get on with preparations for the second burn
0:27:23 > 0:27:27on the other side of the moon to bring them into circular orbit and much closer to the moon.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Patrick Moore, what did you think of that?
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Quite incredible. One thing we've got to bear in mind,
0:27:32 > 0:27:37they were magnificent pictures, I'm not sure they show us more detail than the orbiters, probably not.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41But people were seeing them for the first time, and this is bound to add to our knowledge.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- Sir Bernard, a comment from you? - It was absolutely marvellous.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50I did hear that description and I thought it was quite extraordinary,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53one of the most remarkable few minutes that I've ever lived through,
0:27:53 > 0:27:59the realisation that there was a human being there only 60 or 70 miles above the lunar surface
0:27:59 > 0:28:02giving that wonderful description of what he was seeing.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07On Christmas Eve, 1968, the world received a message
0:28:07 > 0:28:11and a set of images, the likes of which we had never seen before.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16For centuries we had peered into space from the Earth.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Now, we could see ourselves as the rest of the universe would see us.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33We're now approaching a lunar sunrise.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37And for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8
0:28:37 > 0:28:38has a message that we'd like to send to you.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48and the Earth was without form and void,
0:28:48 > 0:28:54and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God
0:28:54 > 0:28:57moved upon the face of the waters and God said,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01"Let there be light," and there was light,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05and God saw the light, that it was good.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08And from the crew of Apollo 8,
0:29:08 > 0:29:13we close with good night, good luck, a merry Christmas,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22The largest TV audience to date watched the transmission.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27The world was hooked on the story of the moon.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31But the year ends for America, and come to that the world,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35with the staggering triumph of the Apollo 8 moonshot.
0:29:35 > 0:29:41So despite the disappointments and frustrations, 1968 culminated in one great success.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46Maybe this will be the signpost for 1969.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Perhaps when the final assessment is made of 1968,
0:29:50 > 0:29:55it will go down as the year when the reality of scientific achievement
0:29:55 > 0:29:58at long last caught up with the fiction.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21From Stanley Kubrick's dazzling cinematic release
0:30:21 > 0:30:26to pop music to children's TV, space was the latest craze.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Certainly wouldn't like to meet him on a dark night in space!
0:30:33 > 0:30:38Possibly the first man on the moon will be an American and it's nice to think that we've helped him
0:30:38 > 0:30:42on his way with our specially made British cooling suit.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47The side doors open and out comes the astronaut, takes a look, quick
0:30:47 > 0:30:51bit of filming, back in he goes, up goes the hatch, and away we go.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Well, I feel quite comfortable and free in this suit.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58It is getting a bit cold and I'm going to switch it off before I freeze to death
0:30:58 > 0:31:01because it's not too warm in here at the moment.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Off the table he goes, this is the sort of thing that can happen to astronauts.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Even some scientists started getting carried away.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14We'll develop what you might call space communities,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17branches of the human civilisation which are no longer
0:31:17 > 0:31:22located on Earth, but are located in orbits around Earth or even orbits
0:31:22 > 0:31:24around the sun or other planets.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28But who is going to want to live out there, it seems such an alien environment?
0:31:28 > 0:31:31That is very true, but who on Earth wanted to go to Australia?
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Research had already begun on the practicalities
0:31:35 > 0:31:38of how humans could survive in space for long periods of time.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42It's hygiene which is most affected by weightlessness.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46The confined conditions require such things as a vacuum razor,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49which does not fill the cabin with choking stubble dust.
0:31:49 > 0:31:56A special technique for clipping fingernails, and extremely short hair to reduce problems of dandruff.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Recovery of waste matter has also not been necessary for short missions,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05but now urine has to be purified to conserve water.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Filtering it through this wick is so successful
0:32:08 > 0:32:11that during a blind trial the result was preferred to tap water.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14The preparation of food also presented problems,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17and scientists were working on alternatives
0:32:17 > 0:32:20to the freeze-dried meals of earlier missions.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25This is bacon-flavoured protein, strawberry-flavoured protein,
0:32:25 > 0:32:30chicken, and here's pepperoni-flavoured protein.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34To this we can add, let's say, a glycerol solution...
0:32:38 > 0:32:40..to produce a rather soft,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43somewhat tasty, material.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47And it doesn't taste particularly sweet either,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50it tastes quite a bit like regular pepperoni.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54We could provide the astronauts with just pure flavour and they could take the sugar
0:32:54 > 0:32:59and convert it into a starch material and end up with things like pancakes
0:32:59 > 0:33:04or spaghetti, or even bread for that matter, that they manufacture
0:33:04 > 0:33:08or cook for themselves on these very long duration missions.
0:33:08 > 0:33:14It might even be fun to do that on a boring trip to Mars, shall we say.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Mars could wait.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20The moon could not.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Only a few months remained before Kennedy's deadline would expire.
0:33:26 > 0:33:32This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39By the end of the '60s, even though it was engaged
0:33:39 > 0:33:44in an increasingly unpopular and expensive war in Vietnam,
0:33:44 > 0:33:48America stood ready to achieve Kennedy's dream.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20We set sail on this new sea
0:34:20 > 0:34:24because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won.
0:34:27 > 0:34:34We choose to go to the moon! We choose to go to the moon!
0:34:34 > 0:34:39We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Well, another perfect launch of the kind we've come to expect.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03I think it's really rather to staggering to remember the first men
0:35:03 > 0:35:05on the moon are really on their way.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16A few days later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left Michael Collins
0:35:16 > 0:35:18alone in the command module
0:35:18 > 0:35:21and made their final descent in the lunar lander.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26It would later emerge that the mission nearly ended in catastrophe.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Unfortunately, we had started the LEM guidance computer off
0:35:29 > 0:35:31with a navigational error.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34It was approximately 14 mph.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38What that means is the guidance computer thinks that it is going
0:35:38 > 0:35:42toward the moon 14 miles an hour slower than it really is.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46- 'Capcom we're go for landing'- Eagle Houston, you're go for landing.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48- '12:01 alarm.'- 12:01 alarm.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50'Set time for go flight.'
0:35:50 > 0:35:52We're go. We're go.
0:35:52 > 0:35:59When they looked out of the LEM window, Armstrong and Aldrin expected to see a flat landing area.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02Instead, they found themselves looking at a boulder field.
0:36:05 > 0:36:13In mission control, the flight surgeon watched Armstrong's heart rate jump from 77 to 156.
0:36:16 > 0:36:21The LEM would have to clear the boulders to avoid a crash landing.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Armstrong fired his thrusters to look for somewhere to touch down.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29But this wasn't part of the plan, and the Eagle had limited fuel.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34Eventually they found a site,
0:36:34 > 0:36:39but by now they had only 30 seconds to land, or they would have to abort.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41- '30 seconds.'- 30 seconds.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49'Contact light. OK, engine stop.'
0:36:51 > 0:36:54We copy you down, Eagle.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57'Houston, er...
0:36:58 > 0:37:01'Tranquillity Bay here, the Eagle has landed.'
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Roger, Tranquillity, we copy you on the ground.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09You've got a bunch of guys here about to turn blue, we're breathing again, thanks a lot.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14I was one year old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and I watched it.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Now, I don't whether there are any of the tiniest fragments
0:37:18 > 0:37:20of the memories that still remain,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23but I still find it an incredibly powerful experience
0:37:23 > 0:37:24to watch it back today.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28That night, all around the world,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32televisions were ready to screen the final step in a journey that began
0:37:32 > 0:37:37with Kennedy's speech eight years previously.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42Well, this is the moment, if there ever was a moment, for Patrick Moore.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45I really feel overcome. I've lived with this idea all my life.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Now that it's really happened I can hardly believe it.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51No admiration can be too great for those magnificent men
0:37:51 > 0:37:54who brought this strange, spidery module down on the moon.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58This, obviously, is a moment that humanity is never going to forget.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07- Here's the picture! - We're getting a picture on the TV.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15There's a great deal of contrast,
0:38:15 > 0:38:19and currently it's upside down on our monitor,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22but we can make out a fair amount of detail.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25There is Armstrong,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27you can see him moving.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30'I'm at the foot of the ladder.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33'The LEM footbeds are only...
0:38:35 > 0:38:39'depressed in the surface about one or two inches.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43'I'm going to step off the LEM now.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57'That's one small step for man,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00'one giant leap for mankind.'
0:39:02 > 0:39:04There's Aldrin.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Armstrong's going to try and guide Aldrin out as he comes backwards.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12'How far are my feet from the edge?'
0:39:12 > 0:39:14'You're right at the edge of the porch.'
0:39:14 > 0:39:17'Making sure not to lock it on my way out.'
0:39:17 > 0:39:20- HE LAUGHS - 'There you go.'
0:39:22 > 0:39:26- 'Beautiful view.' - 'Isn't that something?'
0:39:26 > 0:39:32- 'Magnificent sight out here.' - 'Magnificent desolation.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38'OK, Houston I'm going to change lenses on you.'
0:39:40 > 0:39:44A moment while Neil Armstrong changes lens on the television camera.
0:39:44 > 0:39:51When he takes it out to its distant position, we'll get a wide view of everything that's going on.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53NASA covered their spacecrafts with cameras,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57allowing an adoring audience to follow every minute of the story.
0:39:57 > 0:40:04It turned astronauts into heroes, and their voyages into dramas.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12'Why don't you turn around and let them get a view from there?
0:40:12 > 0:40:14'Let them see what the view looks like.'
0:40:17 > 0:40:19There it is.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21The lunar module.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25The sea of tranquillity.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29- 'OK, I'm going to move it.' - 'OK, here's another good one.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:36- The blackness of the sky. - 'OK, we got that one.'
0:40:41 > 0:40:44'Roger, and we see Buzz going about his work.'
0:40:44 > 0:40:47'OK, it looks good there, Neil.'
0:40:51 > 0:40:55We've just heard that all over the world there are 33 countries
0:40:55 > 0:40:58that have stayed up to take these pictures live.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Once again, an Apollo mission notched up the largest ever
0:41:02 > 0:41:06TV audience, with over half a billion people tuning in.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14After less than 24 hours on the moon's surface, the lunar module
0:41:14 > 0:41:19blasted off to rendezvous with the command module in lunar orbit.
0:41:20 > 0:41:27We've come to the conclusion that this has been far more than three men on a voyage to the moon.
0:41:29 > 0:41:35We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity
0:41:35 > 0:41:39of all of mankind to explore the unknown.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42The acceptance of this challenge was inevitable.
0:41:45 > 0:41:51Upon their return, the Apollo 11 heroes were placed in quarantine due to fears of lunar germs.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55But that didn't stop President Nixon from personally welcoming them home
0:41:55 > 0:41:58and reaping the political rewards of the seeds sown
0:41:58 > 0:42:02by his Democrat predecessors, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Gee, you look great. Do you feel as good as you look?
0:42:05 > 0:42:07We feel just perfect, Mr President.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12I was thinking as you came down, and we knew it was a success,
0:42:12 > 0:42:18and it'd only been eight days, just a long week...
0:42:20 > 0:42:21..that this is the greatest week
0:42:21 > 0:42:25in the history of the world since the creation.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27As a result of what you've done,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30the world's never been closer together before.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33The crew of Apollo 11 had achieved something
0:42:33 > 0:42:36that united the world in admiration.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46There is a great deal of interest here in the flight of Apollo 11.
0:42:46 > 0:42:52The half million American servicemen on duty in South Vietnam have been reading about it
0:42:52 > 0:42:56for weeks in Stars and Stripes, the daily military newspaper,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59and in several English language Saigon papers.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02It really didn't impress me too much until today, when I was talking
0:43:02 > 0:43:05to a former Vietcong who works for my company.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07I was talking to him through an interpreter, and we were trying
0:43:07 > 0:43:10to explain to him that the United States is putting a man on the moon.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15As much as we explained to him, he just refused to believe it was possible,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and it really hit home at this time that the United States is accomplishing a fantastic feat.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21'Soyuz, this is Apollo.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24'Three metres... One metre...
0:43:24 > 0:43:27'Docking completed.'
0:43:27 > 0:43:30For a brief moment in time, it seemed as though the vision
0:43:30 > 0:43:35of Earth from space might really allow earthly rivalries to be transcended.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38In 1975, at the height of the Cold War,
0:43:38 > 0:43:43America and Russia extended a hand of peace in space.
0:43:43 > 0:43:49I want to express my very great admiration for your hard work,
0:43:49 > 0:43:54your total dedication in preparing for this first joint flight.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06(FOREIGN ACCENT) Old philosopher says the best part of a good dinner
0:44:06 > 0:44:09is not what you eat, but with whom you eat.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17# You may say I'm a dreamer
0:44:20 > 0:44:23# But I'm not the only one
0:44:26 > 0:44:30# I hope someday you'll join us
0:44:33 > 0:44:38# And the world will live as one. #
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Once we had got to the moon,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46interest in space exploration began to fade.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50But in 1970, a drama would unfold
0:44:50 > 0:44:53that would once again put Apollo centre stage.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58This is the crew of Apollo 13, wishing everybody there a nice evening.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02Altogether there were seven attempts to land men on the moon.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07And they all went pretty much according to plan, except one,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11when for a few days, the world waited with bated breath
0:45:11 > 0:45:15to see what fate would befall the three astronauts of Apollo 13.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20- 'Houston, we have a problem here.' - This is Houston. Say again, please.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23'Houston, we have a problem. We've had a main B Bus undervolt.
0:45:23 > 0:45:25Roger, main B undervolt.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30'We had a pretty large bang associated with the warning there.'
0:45:30 > 0:45:33OK, now let's everybody keep cool.
0:45:33 > 0:45:34We got LEM still attached.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38Let's make sure we don't blow the whole mission.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42One of Apollo 13's oxygen tanks had exploded,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and the other was leaking into space.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The lunar landing was abandoned,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51but there wasn't enough air to get the crew back to Earth.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55The pressure in O2 tank one is all the way down to 297.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57You better think about getting in the LEM.
0:45:57 > 0:46:02Their only hope was to move into the attached lunar module, which had a separate oxygen supply.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07They would have to spend the four-day journey back to Earth using as little power as possible.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11I want you to get some guys figuring out minimum power
0:46:11 > 0:46:13in the LEM to sustain life.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15For a reason as yet unknown,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19some kind of explosion occurred in the spacecraft's main engine.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Houston says they'll get back to Earth alive
0:46:22 > 0:46:25only if the lunar module's systems work perfectly all the way.
0:46:25 > 0:46:30So for the first time in the history of American space flight,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33there is no back-up system to save them if anything goes wrong.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35The lunar landing has, of course, been called off.
0:46:35 > 0:46:41At this moment, about 30,000 miles out from the moon, and accelerating fast towards it, the crew are aiming
0:46:41 > 0:46:46to curve in behind the moon, and out of contact with Earth, and fire the only engine they have left...
0:46:46 > 0:46:49the lunar module's descent engine.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07We're now coming to the moment, the last moments of Apollo 13
0:47:07 > 0:47:10as it comes in, as it begins its re-entry.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13The best thing we can do now is just to listen and hope.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17We'll only know whether or not that heat shield was damaged
0:47:17 > 0:47:21by the explosion three days ago when they come out of radio blackout.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25All anyone can do now is cross their fingers.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26This is Houston.
0:47:26 > 0:47:32We've just had loss of signal from Honeysuckle with Apollo 13.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Just about now they should be going through the moment of maximum heat.
0:47:36 > 0:47:4030 seconds to go...for blackout.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45We will attempt to
0:47:45 > 0:47:49contact Apollo 13 through one of the Oria aircraft.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Continuing to monitor, this is Apollo Control Houston.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Apollo 13 should be out of blackout at this time.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10We're standing by for any reports of Oria acquisition.
0:48:14 > 0:48:15It should be out.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21We've had a report that Oria four aircraft has acquisition of signal.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28There they are! They've made it!
0:48:32 > 0:48:35Extremely loud applause here in Mission Control...
0:48:35 > 0:48:42Extremely loud applause for Apollo 13 now the main chutes come through on the television display here.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59# A rat done bit my sister Nell
0:48:59 > 0:49:01# With Whitey on the moon
0:49:01 > 0:49:04# Her face and arms began to swell, and Whitey's on the moon
0:49:06 > 0:49:09# I can't pay no doctor bills but Whitey's on the moon
0:49:09 > 0:49:13# Ten years from now I'll be paying still, while Whitey's on the moon... #
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Throughout the Apollo programme,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18America was a nation in social turmoil.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22With many Americans fighting for basic human rights on Earth,
0:49:22 > 0:49:24the idea of spending billions of dollars
0:49:24 > 0:49:27travelling to the moon was, for many, offensive.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34And in Vietnam, the Cold War had turned bloody.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38The spirit of exploration and possibility of the '60s had faded,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42replaced by the grim reality of young men in coffins.
0:49:42 > 0:49:48Amidst such problems, Americans were becoming disillusioned with space exploration.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51There's a state of apathy in the United States now. People just don't care one way or another.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56I think we're spending too much money on the moon.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00They could use the time, the energy and the money to better advantage here in the United States.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02There's lots of room for improvement here.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Rather than spend all that money exploring space
0:50:05 > 0:50:11when people are starving here and that money could be put to very good use improving life here.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Against a background of these chronic social problems
0:50:18 > 0:50:20and the needs of a violent war,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24the apparent short-term goals in space seem flimsy,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28the long-term ones too far off to be relevant.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32Yet still the National Aeronautics And Space Administration NASA
0:50:32 > 0:50:38retain a budget higher than that for the rest of the country's scientific research put together.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42More and more Americans who had been elated at the Saturn launchings
0:50:42 > 0:50:46and the Apollo landings are now obsessed by American failures
0:50:46 > 0:50:49on Earth, ands proclaim themselves bored by space.
0:50:49 > 0:50:54Fewer and fewer congressmen feel free to make lyrical speeches about
0:50:54 > 0:50:58the challenge of outer space to that blue gem, planet Earth.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02More and more are inclined to listen to colleagues like the New York
0:51:02 > 0:51:06congressman who said this year that he couldn't justify voting
0:51:06 > 0:51:10funds to find out whether there were microbes on Mars so long as he knew
0:51:10 > 0:51:15that there were rats and cockroaches alive in the apartments of Harlem.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18In the face of budget cuts,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21the final three Apollo missions were cancelled.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27When Apollo 17's lunar lander took off on December 15 1972,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29the camera operator in Houston
0:51:29 > 0:51:34timed it perfectly to film man leaving the moon for the last time.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47If NASA hadn't paid such attention to filming,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50it's possible we would never have got to the moon.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55It was the television images of heroes and their unfolding dramas
0:51:55 > 0:51:57that appealed to the public.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Without TV, we may never have fallen in love with the story.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03And without public support,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06Congress would never have committed the funding.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10It was over a decade later, in the mid-80s,
0:52:10 > 0:52:11that a new mission was announced
0:52:11 > 0:52:15with the hope of recapturing the public's imagination.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19America has always been greatest when we dared to be great.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21We can reach for greatness again.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space
0:52:25 > 0:52:28for peaceful economic and scientific gain.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33Tonight I'm directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37and to do it within a decade. APPLAUSE
0:52:39 > 0:52:42NASA claimed that one advantage of the space station
0:52:42 > 0:52:47would be its use as a base to service satellites in orbit.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52During a test run repair of the Solamax satellite,
0:52:52 > 0:52:53using the shuttle,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57NASA produced more incredible images for the world's TV screens.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Nelson on his way, one hour and two minutes.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28But it wasn't enough to persuade the public that space travel was worthwhile.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33There was still no story to rival the lunar missions.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Reagan's space station was never completed as envisaged.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41He just couldn't get the money from Congress.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46And perhaps those journeys into near-Earth orbit would never capture
0:53:46 > 0:53:50the public imagination in the way that the Apollo journeys
0:53:50 > 0:53:52to another world always did.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58In 2004, a new President would finally
0:53:58 > 0:54:04try to reignite the lunar dreams originally inspired by Kennedy.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Please, be seated.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12Today I announce a new plan
0:54:12 > 0:54:16to extend a human presence across our solar system.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Beginning no later than 2008,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22we will send a series of robotic missions
0:54:22 > 0:54:26to the lunar surface to research and prepare
0:54:26 > 0:54:28for future human exploration...
0:54:30 > 0:54:35..with the goal of living and working there
0:54:35 > 0:54:39for increasingly extended periods of time.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51Bush's announcement committed NASA to returning a man to the moon
0:54:51 > 0:54:54by 2020 and building long-term lunar settlements.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58We're talking about going back to the moon.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01We're not just talking about going there to stay three days
0:55:01 > 0:55:04and come home with some scientific samples,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07we're talking about the idea of staying, learning to live there,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10learning to actually live off the land using the resources we find,
0:55:10 > 0:55:16and expanding the whole sphere of influence where human activity
0:55:16 > 0:55:19exists, not only to be on the Earth, but to be in the solar system.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23I'm coming out of there. Too high, too high...
0:55:25 > 0:55:26That's fundamentally different
0:55:26 > 0:55:29to the missions we flew during the Apollo era.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35We've literally only scratched the surface on the moon.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39We've gone there, we've dug little trenches, we've made cores a few
0:55:39 > 0:55:42metres deep, but we don't know what the moon is really about.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46We don't know what's in the permanently sheltered craters
0:55:46 > 0:55:51at the south pole, we don't know what's more than a few metres below the surface.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54We don't even know if the core of the moon is liquid or solid.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05As America begins the process of colonising the moon, the rest
0:56:05 > 0:56:07of the world has also realised
0:56:07 > 0:56:10it might be missing out on something important.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26One country with very definite plans of its own is China.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35The Chinese have already successfully launched
0:56:35 > 0:56:38two manned space missions,
0:56:38 > 0:56:42and are talking about putting astronaut on the moon by 2025.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Russia has also expressed interest.
0:56:48 > 0:56:54For nearly 50 years it's been one of the world's leading space powers.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57And there are well developed lunar missions
0:56:57 > 0:56:59from India, Japan, and Europe.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08The race to the moon is back on.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17The question is, do we have the public appetite to pay for it?
0:57:17 > 0:57:21I hope so, because going to the moon isn't just a great story,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and it doesn't matter that we've already done it.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27It's worth doing, like Kennedy said,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31not because it's easy, but because it's hard.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34It tests us and it drives our civilisation forward.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40For me, the moon represents so much more than just a piece of rock to go and stand on.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45It represents the frontier, it represents the spirit of exploration.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51Apollo was the inspiration for me to become a scientist.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57I feel like our pioneering spirit died with Apollo,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59and that immeasurably diminishes us.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03So I'm delighted that we're going back to the moon,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07and I'd like to see it as the first step to the exploration
0:58:07 > 0:58:10of a new frontier out into the solar system and beyond.
0:58:10 > 0:58:16'OK, Houston. As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19'I realise there's a fundamental truth to our nature.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24'Man must explore, and this is exploration at its greatest.'
0:58:44 > 0:58:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:47 > 0:58:50E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk