It is ready to be rolled out as soon as apollo 11 is on its way for a launch. It will be rolled out to launch within two months to me still try to meet president kennedys goal of landing on the moon in this decade. If apollo 11 goes as well as planned, they will take an extra couple of months to get a good reading on the rocks and so forth that are brought back. And then they will send apollo 12. We have an announcement coming up from Launch Control. This is apollo seven Launch Control. In less than 16 minutes, planned liftoff of the vehicle. All going well at this time. The astronauts have had a chance to rest over the last few minutes. They havent been busy with procedures with the spacecraft. We have been performing final checks on the guidance system. Once we get down to the three minute 10 second mark, we will go on an automatic sequence. All aspects from there on down will be automatic, run by the ground master computer here in the firing room. This will lead up to the 8. 9 minute mark in the countdown when the ignition sequence will begin in the five engines of the first stage. The s1c stage of the saturn v. At the two second mark, we will get information and a signal that all engines are running. At the zero mark in the countdown, once we get the commence signal that says that the thrust is proper and acceptable, we will then get a commit and liftoff as the arms release the vehicle. We have 7. 6 Million Pounds of thrust pushing the vehicle upward, a vehicle that weighs close to 6. 5 Million Pounds. This is kennedy Launch Control. We will be hearing a great deal from jack king as the morning goes on. You have a good view from one of the 66 cameras around the launch site by which the National Space people in Launch Control monitor every one of the functions of the launch. Walter cronkite with me here at our cbs News Space Center at Merritt Island overlooking the launch site is one of the most distinguished of the Science Fiction writers, people who have predicted long before scientists were ready to put down the final plan just how we would go to the moon. This is Arthur C Clarke who, among his other distinguished Science Fiction includes 2001, the great movie which recently came out. I just read that they showed it with Great Success in moscow last night. Apparently got great applause there. You first road of going to the moon back in 1930s. At a time when nobody dreamed we would come the same. Did you . Arthur no. I didnt imagine it would be in my lifetime in those days. Walter how do you feel this morning . Arthur very excited and i have i came in feeling excited yet its familiar. Now im thinking about the next thing. Mars and beyond. Walter we havent gotten to the moon yet. Thats the nature of you sciencefiction writers, i suppose. Does this about match the way you thought we would do it . Arthur as far as the technical details, yes. This is precisely the way it was imagined. What we never imagined was the scale and the cost and complexity of the enterprise. If we realized how complex it would be, we wouldve been discouraged in the 30s. Walter you thought it would be a few Million Dollars . Theres been inflation since then. I think the figure they give now for just the launch alone is 69 million. Arthur all this money will come back many times over for generations to come. Its the best investment the United States have ever made. In another 20 years, people will be unable to imagine why we questioned this expenditure. Walter cronkite how do you see it coming back . The Space Industries of the next generation, it will move up to for the end of the century. There are many things on this earth we can only do with her airplanes and helicopters. They once seemed like there was no practical importance. Walter will they find surprises out there . Arthur im sure they will. Nature is more complex and interesting that we can anticipate. Find surprises on the moon. We are going to not necessarily on the first flight. Im sure, eventually. But i dont know if we will find , a black monolith on the moon. [laughter] walter a reference to 2001. Tell me what thats all about. [laughter] theres a lot of mystery about that far out closing for the picture. Which we all liked we still. Argue in our family about what it means. Maybe before this is over, i expect you to be sitting next to me many times over the next few days. In the flight of apollo 11, as we were so delighted to have you in previous flights. You will tell me the real secret of the monolith. Arthur ok. Promise. Walter i think ive got something. We will have many more talks about the moon, how we get there, in the future. Your ideas of how we will get be and beyond the moon. Jack in Launch Control now. We have now gone to automatic system with the emergency detection system. That system that would queue the astronauts if theres trouble down below. With the saturn v rocket during the powered flight. We are now coming up on the 10 minute mark. Mark 10 minutes away from our planned liftoff. T minus10 minutes and counting. We are aiming for our planned liftoff at 32 minutes past the hour. This is kennedy Launch Control. Walter cronkite let us tell you now some of the things you will be seeing here. Theres no time in the excitement and reports of the launch itself. Indeed, it can scarcely be heard over the roar of the saturn v engine, the most powerful engine as far as we know that has ever been used to get man off of the surface or to move them anywhere on the surface of the earth. The russians, we believe, are developing a rocket larger than this. We have no evidence that they but have used it as yet. , about 40 seconds before launch. The water deluge begins. You will see some evidence of it on your picture. At 10 seconds before the actual liftoff, ignition takes place. That is when those five f1 engines begin belching their thrust. There they are. A total of 7. 5 Million Pounds of four thrust. Great fuel loads there, grade explosive potential, if not controlled through those nozzles. Nine seconds after the ignition begins, the arms fall back and the rocket with its full power is released to begin its slow climb up towards the skies. In just a couple seconds later, it yours it rolls little bit. With the roll program complete, it is rolled over so it is on its proper azimuth, its proper launch course. At one minute 21 seconds into the flight, you begin to see the contrails which indicate that it has reached the point in the sky with a maximum dynamic pressure of its launch and piercing of the atmosphere has come. That aerodynamic load of 460,000 pounds on the fragile skin of the spacecraft. Its one of the dangerous points of the launch. Its the maximum buffeting that the pilots get as they take off. At that the vehicle is eight point, miles high and three miles downrange. It is moving at 1800 Miles Per Hour. Then the inboard engines begin , to cut off. Then 30 seconds later, the , outboard engines cut off. By that time, the vehicle is 41 miles high, 57 miles downrange running 6000 miles an hour. , then the first stage separates. The s2 second stage ignites. It completes its job and is jettisoned at three minutes and 11 seconds. The launch escape system then, jettisons go after that. The inboard engine cuts off in the second stage. The inner stage was jettisoned earlier. The outboard engines and separation of the second stage at nine minutes and 12 seconds. Then we get the third stage ignition. And at 11 minutes and 50 seconds, orbital insertion. The flight is on its way and has reached orbit, 150 miles high. It is about 2. 5 hours later, 1. 5 third stage fires up again to move from the 17,500 mile per hour escape velocity to go into a trans lunar trajectory. Cbs news color coverage of the launch day of apollo 11 will continue in a moment. Its just five minutes to the historic launch of the apollo 11. With all going well. The astronauts are sitting there atop the great saturn rocket in their command modules, getting ready for launch. Heres jack king at Launch Control. Jack the swing arms are now coming back. The astronauts will have a few more reports coming up in the countdown. The last Business Report will be from Neil Armstrong at the 45 second mark in the count. He will give the status on the final alignment of the stabilization and control system. We are now passing the four minute 32nd mark in the countdown. Still go at this time. 32nd mark in the countdown. Still go at this time. Four minutes, 15 seconds. Launch vehicle test, you are go for lunch. For launch. From this time down, carson handles the countdown as the launch vehicle begins to build up. We are now hitting the fourminute mark. Four minutes and counting. We are go for apollo 11. We will go on an automatic sequence starting at three minutes and seven seconds. Walter the engines that generate the thrust, combined horsepower equal to 543 jet fighter planes. The launch vehicle weighs as submarine nautilus. 562,000 pounds of fuel , the equivalent of 98 Railroad Tank Cars of it. The capacity of a small towns water tank. The noise reaches 120 decibels, compared to 8 million hifi sets playing at once. Thank you very much. We know it will be a good flight. Firing command coming in now. We are on the automatic sequence. We are approaching the three minute mark in the counts. T minus three minutes and counting. We are go with all elements of the mission at this time. We are on an automatic sequence as the master computer supervises hundreds of events occurring over these last two minutes. T minus two minutes 45 seconds and counting. The members of the launch team in the control Center Monitoring a number of redline values. These are tolerances we dont want to go above or below in temperatures and pressures. They are standing by to call out any deviations from our plans. Two minutes 30 seconds and counting. We are still go on apollo 11 at this time. The vehicle is starting to pressurize. All is still go. As we monitor our status board. Two minutes, 10 seconds and counting. Jack king the target for the apollo 11 astronauts will be at a distance of 218,096 miles away. We just passed the two minute mark in the countdown. T minus one minute 54 seconds and counting. Our status board indicates that the oxidizer tanks in the second and third stages have pressurized. We continue to build up pressure in all three stages at the last minute. To prepare for liftoff. T minus one minute 35 seconds. On the Apollo Mission the flight , to land the first man on the moon. All indications are coming into the control center at this time and indicate we are go. One minute 25 seconds and counting. Our status board indicates it is completely pressurized. The 80 second mark his past. We are going full internal power at the 50 second mark in the countdown. Leading up to the ignition sequence at 8. 9 seconds. We are approaching the 62nd mark. T minus 60. 55 seconds and counting. Neil armstrong just reported back, its been a small countdown. We passed the 50 second mark. Power transfer is complete. We are on internal power, with the launch vehicle at this time. 40 seconds away. From the apollo 11 left off. You can see the water deluge beginning now. 35 seconds and counting. We are still go with apollo 11. 30 seconds and counting. Jack king it feels good. Astronauts report it feels good. , t minus 20 seconds. 20 seconds and counting. T minus 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 12, 11, 10, 9, ignition sequence start. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. All engines running. Liftoff, we have a liftoff. Zero. 32 minutes past the hour. Liftoff on apollo 11. Walter oh boy. It looks good. Getting that buffeting we have become used to. What a moment. Man is on the way to the moon. Walter cronkite looks like a good trajectory so far. Very good. Walter cronkite beautiful. Downrange one mile. 195 feet per everything fell second. Into place. The redline is lit. [inaudible] walter you can see it beautifully on the screen here. Everything is go now. We are through the region of maximum dynamic pressure now. Everything looks good here. Where at 1350 on the start. Set eight miles downrange. Feet per standby for mode second. One, charlie. Market, but one charlie. Mode one charlie. Houston, you are go for staging. Walter thats for dropping the first stage. Going through the second stage power. Inboard engines out. Walter you are hearing from the capsule communicator, Mission Control talking to the astronaut. Astronaut ken mattingly, Mission Control, houston. Walter this is jack riley reporting, the voice of missing Mission Control. Ignition. Each of these events are very interesting. Thrusters go. All engines, you are looking loud and clear, houston. 43 miles high. We confirm. Should have the launch escape system jettison. Of the engine skirt separation and the launches gate launch escape our separation. Visual is go. Walter [laughter] roger that. [inaudible] the visual simulation is go today. He cant hear you. Houston, your guidance is converged. You are looking good. The boost protective cover comes off. Altitude 62 miles. Velocity, 10,300 feet per second. Houston, you are go at four minutes. Roger. Walter the second stage of these five. J2 engines. 1,025,000 pounds of thrust. Thats an amazing camera. The space agency has. We can still see that spacecraft. At this point, its almost 93 miles high. 72 miles high. Velocity, 11,000 feet per second. Walter cronkite almost 8000 mile per hour. Walter it has to get up to 17,500 to go into earth orbit. Another four minutes before the booster says its looking good at five minutes. Houston, you are going five minutes. Walter the next critical moment will be when that second stage jettisons and we get that fourth stage ignition for the first time. It could be most significant to us. Cli capability. [inaudible] cli concerns the orbit insurance arson. Insertion. You all are coming through beautifully two. Everyone is reporting go in the control center. You are go in six minutes. Roger 11, you are go at the ground. [inaudible] that gate is jumping all around. Standby, 11, houston, 8. 107. , 9. 11. Were cut off that walter what was jumping around . Gauges . The level six arm is the sequence that arranges the staging between the second stage and the third stage. It uncovers a sensor starting that sequence. [inaudible] nine minutes 11 seconds. Look at thekite empty lawn site summer between 10 and 20,000 gallons of water. Plus 11. F at nine walter so good is this deluge system. Its capable of keeping damage to a minimum on the pad. They can turn around and use those Service Stands almost instantly. Is a go change. On the ground track. Inboard we confirm engines are on the second stage as planned. Walter looks like another launch. Aturn v what a feat theyve come to with these saturns after the early days of mercury and even gemini. Saturns ontime launch, i wish we could get american railroads to run on the kind of schedule that ron brown and company have these apollos launched on. We finally have boosters. Roger we got shift down here too. [inaudible] 11, this is houston. You are a go for staging. Remote for capability. Walter this should be the firing of the s 14. Miles,tude is 100 downrange 800 miles. Walter ignition, right on time. Thrusters go, 11. 700 psi. 697. Walter we have a good third stage now. This burn lasts two minutes and 25 seconds, and that brings the vehicle to its orbital speed of 17,500 Miles Per Hour, up 1000 miles from where it was before. Per second. Downrange, 1000 miles. Altitude, 101 miles. [inaudible] walter the third stage is a j2 engine. Houston, your ago. Walter i think i misidentified the communicator minute ago. The man who is communicating with the astronauts from Mission Control in houston is bruce mannix. [inaudible] downrange, 1175 miles. The last of the 24,190 mile feet per second, altitude 102 nautical miles. All right. Heres former president johnson. Walter cronkite hes with a few of his friends in the stands. Apollo 11, this is houston. You are ago. Withr cronkite sharing agnew. Hes the official representative of president nixon. Vice president agnew is the top official of the administration here. 25,002 hundred 54 feet per second. Altitude 102. 8 nautical miles. Sat down right on time. 10336. Of 3. 6. Py 101. 4 by one walter that would be a nautical mile of the orbit for the spacecraft has been confirmed. They are in earth orbit. They made the first big jump on their trip to land on the moon. Vice president agnew is the man you see on your screen. Houston the booster is safe. , roger. Thats another good sign. The booster is safe. The destruct system has been shut off command on the ground. By a so they cannot destroy the spacecraft. Its designed if we abort a way. To disperse. We have a escape route, course. Its nice to know its shut off. Walter at this point, now that they are in earth orbit, their return could be a normal return to a selected landing spot by jettisoning the third stage and going on their service engine. Walter cronkite so this first, always dramatic. And obviously with a great explosive could potential with all that feel. The dangerous launch phase has passed. Apollo 11 is on the way. Looking good, over. Yes it is. Walter tom was a pilot on the commander on apollo 10. Paved the way for this flight. Thatpaved the way for this flight. With Vice President agnew and his party. Tom has been the chief briefing officer for the vp, the vips the last couple of days. You see him coming in and out of the hotel there. Hilton. Hes constantly running off to make more notes to brief another important visitor. I think tom would say the vqip walter we remarked earlier about all the foreign dignitaries, the congressman, the senators, governors, mayors, theyre here. At 1535. N vanguard los aos canary at 1630. Walter that report is on the l os. Loss of signal of the vanguard. Thats one of the tracking ships in the atlantic to the acquisition signal on the canary islands. Here on the ground, we are showing in orbit at 102. 5 by 99. 7 nautical miles. The flight dynamics officer dave reed wants to get some radar tracking to refine this orbit. He will report a refined orbit after more radar tracking. Walter thats almost 116 miles. Yes it is. You will note the biggest difference, the radar data hasnt been smoothed yet. The onboard data. The onboard date is probably more nearly correct at this its point. Not critical at this point. The difference in those one or two miles in earth orbit, as long as they are in the right position over the pacific on the second orbit to fire off the s4b third stage and boost their speed from 7,500 miles to 25,000 Miles Per Hour which will put them on the way to the moon. That moon trajectory speed is just enough to escape enough of the earths gravity to be captured by the moons gravity, to be brought around the far side of the moon. And then, with enough inertial speed to come back to earth but not go into moon orbit. Nor be going go fast that you bypass the moon and are not captured by its gravity and go into the sun. Walter those figures translate to 118 by 120 statute miles. A little bit higher than they calculated, i think. Less than a couple of miles and byless than a couple of miles and well within range. So weve seen another beautiful , saturn launch. But this one will never be known by those of us who watched it as just another , saturn five launch. Not if all goes well. This is the flight from which becausethis is the flight from which man will first set foot on the moon. We almost glibly toss that line away now. Man on the moon. By golly. Cbs news color coverage of the launch day of apollo 11 will continue in a moment. Walter cronkite apollo 11 is on the way. Writing that pillar of flame from the saturn five into the skies come out there 250,000 miles away where the moon is waiting for mans first rival. First arrival. Flight to take three days. The spacecraft will reach there on saturday. The landing will take place on sunday. Neil armstrong will set foot on the moon at 2 21 a. M. On monday morning. The first critical phase of this flight is over, the launch. They are now in earth orbit. They are now over the atlantic, approaching the coast of africa. They will touch shortly with the canary tracking station where we may hear more from them. And then out over africa, the indian ocean, past australia, back around for the first trip across the United States. On the second trip around, they will launch themselves out towards the moon itself. On the first pass around, on the completion of first orbit, when they are just about overhead here for the first time, we can expect a transmission from their color onboard television camera. One hour and 29 minutes into the at flight, one minute or so after 11 00. Lets look now at that beautiful launch that took place here just 23 minutes ago. Videotape, here it is. By 10, 9, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, one, zero. All engines running. Liftoff. We have a liftoff. 32 minutes past the hour. Liftoff on apollo 11. Tower cleared. Can we get a roll program . Walter cronkite Neil Armstrong reporting the roll and pitch program, which puts apollo 11 on a proper heading. You use a classic astronaut word, beautiful. Its fantastic. Will use that later. And bravo. Bravo is an onboard control mode. Actually, we watching on television, get a much better view on the longrange camera then you can watching from the beach. We watch here both on the video as you are watching at home, we also look through our glasses, binoculars. And by far the better view is by television. Look at that. That spectacular. That thing is 100 miles high. Incredible. We found it was necessary for us to fly chase aircraft and follow the booster to see if theres any anomalies. It might be worth repoing. Not necessarily a realtime decision, but we could see a calamity that might have been developing. Downrange 12 miles. Walter cronkite would you have been able to communicate fast enough so that the astronauts couldve done something . We were on the same communications loop. The same frequency. Houston, you are go for staging. Walter cronkite this is a spectacular pluming. Think of how big that booster is, and how large that plume is. Walter cronkite whats the sensation up there, wally, when these events take place . Each one is a milestone. We spent Time Training for the abort modes. Those are where we terminate at certain times. They are agonizing to anticipate having to do that. Occur at different intervals. Minutes, as you patch eight as you pass each event, you get that one more milestone behind you. It means you are on your way to a success. Walter do you actually check them off of a list or just mentally . Its a mental checklist. The Mission Commander is keyed up at this point. Hes checking these important levels as he goes down the pike, as we call it. Of course when the escape jettisons and you know its a flight task rather than an automatic abort. Gone, they the tower have windows, so they can see out the five windows. Walter cronkite before the, they cant see anything. Only one window. They can see Something Real out there. [laughter] walter now you have some windows to look out. The first flight of years on mustve been something. Mercury mustve been something. Ill use the word fantastic. It was. But that window is kind of interesting, by the way. When we started off, the first mercury, a sub orbital flight. We had were more like portholes. Windows on the sides that we we spoke and said need a window down the center line. Like airplanes have. That window has become quite important. We maintain attitude with it. We restore attitude if we dispense with it. Either by tumbling inadvertently, or tumbling by intent. So the window became quite important to us. Now we do have a good view. Walter it wasnt just a picture window to give you a view of the outside world. By no means. Walter we got another hack. As you spaceman collett. You will get me talking that way. Nobody will understand us. [laughter] Walter Cronkite the first hack on the orbit, the apollo 11, the term by the spacecraft is 116 by 119. Mission control 117 by i guess 114. Thats what we have come up with a little bit earlier. They comes up to around 118 by 120. Thats just about on target. Just about what they hoped for. It is well within the nominal range for successful missions. Its interesting. Earth orbit to elevate your orbit onemile only takes two , feet per second. When you think about the fact that they are flying around 25,000 feet per second. You dont need much more to change those numbers. Very very small numbers involved here. Walter they wont worry about changing it. No. Walter cronkite my palms are sweaty. You are now a member of the Mission Launch team. [laughter] walter wally was telling me that he has found and checked it out precisely three minutes before a launch, his palms become sweaty. I checked mine. I think i qualify at least on , for at least on astronaut rating the wet palm index. , cbs news Color Congress coverage will continue in a moment. Cbs news color coverage of the epic journey of apollo 11 continues after station identification. This is cbs. This is cbs news color coverage of man on the moon. The epic journey of apollo 11. Sponsored by the International Paper company, where good ideas grow on trees. And by western electric, manufacturing and supply units of the bell system. And by kelloggs, kelloggs puts more in your morning. Here again is Walter Cronkite. Walter three fellows who are remarkably alike in many ways, two of them 38 years old. 1, 39. All of about the same height, the same weight. Roughly of the same physical description. Three men, civilian Neil Armstrong. 38, from ohio. United States Air Force colonel edwin e buzz aldrin, 39 years old. New jersey. Of montclairnew jersey. , 38yearold air force and Lieutenant Colonel michael collins. Born in rome italy. , his late father was a general in the United States army. As was his grandfather and brother. They are on the way to the moon. They were launched here from cape kennedy. Pad 39a, it will forever be a historic mark. Precisely on time, exactly a half hour ago. They are now in orbit about the years. 118 miles high. Traveling at 17,500 Miles Per Hour. Approaching the coast of africa on their first trip around the world. On their second trip, they will fire off their third stage engine and they will be on the way to the moon and mans first landing there. Here with me in our cbs News Space Center is the Vice President of the United States who was here to watch this launching. In his role as the chief of the Space Council. So good to see you. This was quite a launch. It was. Each one of them is a launch. The more you see, the more exciting they get. The first one ive seen from the outside. Its even more exciting out there. Walter was there anything about the launch that surprised you . Vp it seemed to go easier than the other two. I think you get to learn a little bit about the things that make you apprehensive like filling out. It scares the dickens out of me. Walter a slow climb is frightening the first time you see it. Even when you know its going to be that way. You cant believe its really moving. Walter you get that sense, you are waiting for something to take off very quickly and it doesnt happen. It was beautiful. It was. I was full with a feeling of great pride for these people, not just the three men in the air now, but the people behind the program. So dedicated. They areso dedicated. I see a great future for this program. Walter when it went up, there were tears in the eyes of many people. We are told it is something that happens to you. Theres an emotional relief as you watch that thing. It must mean so much to the thousands of people out here on the escape who put everything into this mission, the young the unsung heroes. Yes. Ive had a chance to get to know some of the astronauts because of being down for the shots. I want to say to the people in the country, these are the greatest, most dedicated men ive ever run into in or out of public life, military life, anywhere. They have a sense of purpose and modesty that is overwhelming. They are so natural. They are the greatest ambassadors we have. Walter its the nature of the American People and Space Program, to constantly look beyond where we are. This is the nature of the man who wants to go to the moon. Now we are on the way to the moon. We have high hopes for the success of this mission. It is not over by any means. We have gotten over the first big hurdle, getting into orbit. We have a lot more to go, landing on the moon hasnt been accomplished yet. You were quoted as saying, what you are saying was an indication of what this ministration this administrations intentions will be, for space. You said, let me read the quote. I think the United States should undertake a very ambitious new project and space. We shouldnt be ashamed to attempt something even though the scientific probability isnt is in doubt. Attemptwe should interplanetary exploration in a manned sense. Do you think that . Well the Space Council , doesnt have the thrust to do any planning right now. We are engaged in a Task Force Effort to present recommendations to the president by september as to what happens after apollo, assuming this is a successful mission. Of course we have other flights to follow. We feel that we in the task force, we must articulate a broad objective for the future. Theres a great amount of disagreement among the people who are participating in these discussions. I would have to say, i represent a minority viewpoint in saying that we should be a little bit forthcoming in saying where we are trying to go even though the Technology May not be as advanced as it should be to say it from a sense of scientific probability. I understand this happened once before when president kennedy made his objective the moon landing. Its very easy to forgo the optimistic, longrange approach to these things because you can always find 100 reasons not to do it or why it may fail. But with the way science has , advanced, in the past 50 years, i dont think we would be out of line in saying, we are going to put a man on mars by the end of the century. I think we should do it. Because based on the rate of , progress weve shown, i think its possible that even if we dont say it, it will happen. I think the people in the country, the average man, wants something to look forward to as an objective, as an exciting objective. I know all the objections about the spending of the money. But the Space Program will , probably turn out to be one of our best investments. In time. Walter do you see any problem , assuming this mission is successful, this one and apollo 12, in getting the appropriations for the full Nine Missions for moon exploration . I dont think that will be a problem. Walter what about the next step, the space people are talking about moving on immediately to the large space station. An orbiting space station. Do you think the people are ready for that step . That has to come about as an intermediate move before we could think about interplanetary exploration. I believe that the public is ready to undertake this venture. All over the country and world, there is a tremendous enthusiasm about this idea of new frontiers. Frontiers of such magnitude that and they make the explorations of earth explorers look rather puny by comparison. Walter we get a little blase in our Country Living amidst all , the technical miracles we have performed in the United States. We live with them. We are already getting the spinoff. One small example. Transistors, and all of these things. We live with these things every day. I think the American People might find a new inspiration for further excitement towards Space Exploration when they hear how , the world reacts to this. Feet. Feat. We seem to have our attention directed to the world reaction. Last night, i had a talk with colonel stafford. Came back from finland. He found an outpouring of there sentiment, and , identification with the United States. This is something that you can apply patriotism to without the horrors of war. This is a great place to be able to be chauvinistic. Walter the space people points out it takes one half of 1 of our Gross National product to have enough of the budget for them to go on the program. 4 billion per year. I have just been handed a note that the soviet press reported the start of the mission within , minutes of liftoff, indicating the russians will have fast coverage of this flight. I suppose. News agency gave the time of the launch in the names of the crew members. Television did not show the liftoff live. It did not interrupt its regular programming. Liftoff is being shown everywhere else around the world thanks to satellites. Bringing up the soviet press reaction. The commander had a chance to meet with a cosmonaut who is also visiting finland. Theres a real rapport between the people in these programs and i think there are real possibilities for the future in getting cooperative ventures moving, possibly in exchange of information in collaboration on certain hardware in the future. So that we can come to a cooperative stance with the soviet union. It may be of immeasurable assistance in arms talks and the disarmament talks. The general diplomacy of the world. We do not hide anything. We are ready. We have an open program. We hope they will be as forthcoming in the future as we hope they may become as they become more excited about the gains being made. Walter are there any plans from the ministration to make another open offer to the soviet union for cooperation once we reac the moon . Im not certain. Thats a decision that only can be made by the president. I know he is considering all the factors involved. We want to do everything we can possibly do to reduce tension in the world. Whether its in the Space Program, the middle east, the far east. In whatever case. In general disarmament. But i think we have to be , pragmatic enough to realize that some indication of acceptance of this idea has to come from the other side. Not just in talk. Andnot just in talk. A little bit in action. Walter maybe the space station would be the way to do it. We could put up one great space from whichation, we all could launch. Maybe we will get to it. It offers a great chance for cooperation. Walter thank you very much. They are waiting for you at the firing room. Thank you very much. Walter cronkite Vice President agnew, here to watch this momentous occasion, this launch of apollo 11 in his capacity of the chairman of the president s Space Council. He gave us some words of encouragement as to the administrations hopes and his hopes for the future of manned spaceflight. The flight of apollo 11 is going very well at this point. Some 41 minutes into the flight. They are halfway around the world now. They should be out over the indian ocean, approaching perth, australia. The orbit is now stabilized at a perfect 118 by 180 miles. They are in circular orbit. We are told that their heart rates for this flight have been revealed to us. They were far below what each of them recorded on their first gemini flight. They each had one flight before. A gemini flight. Listen to this. These are some pretty cool test pilots up there. As you can see on your screen right now, we are showing some of the crowds beginning to leave the area. Some of the crowd, some estimated as high as one Million People. It jammed the roads for miles around to watch the launch. Listen to these heart rates. Armstrong had a heart rate at liftoff of 110. He had a 146 on his gemini flight. Collins was down to 99. He had 125 on his first flight. Aldrin came in low at 88. In the first gemini flight, he also was low at 110. What cool, excitable test pilots these men are. They sit high on top of that huge rocket, 36 stories high, on top of all of that explosive fuel. Those engines pounding out 7. 5 Million Pounds of thrust on the liftoff. They are making this historic flight for man to go to the moon. And their heartbeat is down at that point. Its remarkable. I doubt that my heartbeat was anything like that in the excitement of liftoff from here. Cbs News Coverage of the launch day of apollo 11 will continue in a moment. Walter cronkite the flight of apollo 11, now halfway around the earth on the first orbit of the earth. When it reaches this point on the second orbit, it will be preparing to fire the third stage engines and go into its trajectory towards the moon. Its approaching the tracking station on the west coast of australia. By perth. As you see over the indian ocean, all the reports from the astronauts have been most encouraging. Apparently all the systems are functioning well. Theyve got another successful spacecraft in earth orbit. Now for even more difficult phases of the fight ahead. We have a report from ohio where mr. And mrs. Stephen armstrong watched the launch. Mrs. Armstrong talked to her son this morning before the launch. He was his usual self. The astronauts parents spoke to Mission Control. It is clear down there. Its like sitting in your living room. These are cool test pilots. They have not been very talkative up there as yet. There hasnt been a great deal to talk about. They are reporting out their many dials. Its of the utmost importance to the manned space center as they test the systems on are sure that they are ready for the next go, no go decision which is the decision to fire the third stage and start them on the way to the moon. In a way, theres an indication here to those of us who are professional newsman of the awesome nature of this flight this morning. Down in our cbs space center newsroom, right below me here, by the launch complex, three minutes before this launch this morning, both the Associated Press and United Press International machines clattered to a stop. Not another word was transmitted on those machines which carry news from all over the world. Nothing came along again until after the liftoff of apollo 11. It seemed the whole world stopped to await this historic moment. Man set out on the great adventure. The adventure to escape his own planet and set foot on a different one. Distant in earth miles from the launch was a man, who he was Vice President under president johnson, had a great deal to do with our Space Program. That was Vice President humphrey. Hes in moscow today. Hes quoted as saying, all the russians hes talked to, hundreds, seem to have no sense of having lost a race to the moon. Rather, feeling that there has been a contribution out to the understanding of the need for International Cooperation in space. A sentiment that was expressed just a moment ago by the current Vice President. Speaking of Vice President s, more than that, of former president of the United States, im am delighted to have with us former president Lyndon Baines johnson. Good to see you. Can we put a microphone on you . There we are. You said yesterday that you had flown along on every one of these missions. Those you watched on the Television Monitor at the white house and this was the first time you saw it in person. Fmr. Pres. Johnson it was a great trail. I had a feeling of great concern for the outcome of this flight. We havent reached the end. Its just the beginning. Its been a long time, going as far as we have, if the decision was made 13 years ago, it made possible that awesome site this morning when president eisenhower put 300 million on a tight budget in 1958. The feeling you get on one of these blast off, that you get in person. This morning, i thought about how fortunate we had been to have had a minimum of accidents. I know all of our people will have great concern until this fight is finished. Another reaction i had was this awesome sight and when they started to lift off, it seemed like half a Million People who had worked on this, each of them was there, lifting them and trying to see that great power going to the skies. Another thought i had was if we can do all of that in such a short time, i wonder why it is we cant put that same effort to bring good and peace to the world. I thought as we went into the sky this morning, the space act itself and its declaration, that we were engaged in this endeavor to bring peace to mankind, and i dont believe theres a single thing our country does that has greater potential for peace then the space effort. As i walked out, i saw the special section of ambassadors from all of the nations of the world. All taking great pride in americas effort. All entertaining great hope for the success of this mission. After apollo eight, i sent to the leaders of the world, a picture of the earth from that mission. The response was favorable. Hopeful. They all expressed great admiration for our people. Walter when you conducted the search for the head of nasa, you came up with james webb as the head of that agency. Put together this tremendous department together, marshaled 500,000 people that had to work in plants all over the country, vermont, kansas city, across the country contributed something. One of the great spinoffs of the program is the management techniques and systems engineering. Hed like to see that applied to jobs like peace. How do we translate into action and do anything . Fmr. Pres. Johnson he was telling me of the many statements he heard from heads of state about our Peace Program and the potentiality it offered in that field. I was always told in selecting a manager, pick the best man, give him what he needs, tell them what is objective is, then let him get the job done. That is what president kennedy did in the space effort. When he made this commitment of this country and asked congress to join. He had already appointed mr. Webb to director. We are on our way today to realizing the objective given. All 3 billion people cannot understand why we have to keep on dying and fighting when we can do such wonderful things. Why we cant learn to get along with each other. Under the leadership of our cream of our young manhood in our space effort, the president of the United States, the leaders in the space field, that we can bring about a joint effort. Back in 1958, i urged eisenhower to say to the nations of the world, lets join in the united Space Program. The administration will be engaged in negotiations with other leaders. It may be that more will come out of this. Walter certainly something we can rest our hopes in even as we rest our hopes in those three men on apollo 11. Fmr. Pres. Johnson i thought of three things i felt. Concern for the men and their safety. The great awe for what had just seen when they took off. Great pride in this country. And its ability to set aside partisanship and differences and quarreling among its industry and government leaders. That has been held to a minimum. If these great managers of industry, if the laboring people and government decided, all with congress, can get together into a job like this, theres not anything we cant do. Theres so much we have to do with health and sickness and poverty. We must apply these greater talents to these problems and get get them done. The greatest good for the greatest number. Walter looking forward to sunday night when we are in our 31 hours of programming between the time they approach the moon and put their foot on it and take off. We will be on the air continuously. On sunday, we will be able to show that half hour. I have the privilege of doing what we did at the ranch, the history of our Space Program and where we go. Fmr. Pres. Johnson everything we have done we have done going through the Space Program and seeing everything with the media cooperating and everything in front of the camera and no secrets. Walter i was amazed. In the midst of a complicated program with all of them working and you come out here to shoot a press story and here, the bus is rolling up with 50 people aboard from all parts of the u. S. , getting out and looking. It was wide open. Fmr. Pres. Johnson something our system has that man has equaled. Thats why we have the strength we do. Walter thank you very much, mr. President. Former president johnson, who as a senator first but the drive behind our catching up in space after the russian sputnik and as the Vice President , as chairman of the Space Council. Now he sees apollo 11, 75 of the way around the earth in the pacific toward the west coast of the u. S. Everything is going well. Systems are checking out. There should be no constraints on the third stage firing in an hour and a half that will put them toward the moon. In a halfhour, we are expecting a Television Transmission from the color camera on the rocket. Its the same camera on the earlier apollo and the lunar lander. We should have pictures from the moon as well all of the two hours and 40 minutes of the men outside the lunar module on the moon. More on the flight of the apollo 11 in a moment. Walter we have a report from houston where the families of collins and aldrin watched the launch. She watched the launch from here. In houston, the 10yearold daughter of mike collins served coffee to newsman on the line of their ranch home. She carried out trays of coffee to the group of newsman waiting out there along with her mom and brother. They told the newsman they would want to be astronauts themselves. Michael said it would be a lot of fun. Kate said she would be thinking how much fun it is. Science, geography and math, thats what it takes. Perhaps kate collins will go to the moon one day. Perhaps they will take her over to landing site to in the sea of tranquility. Thats beyond the crater. There would be a plaque that her father signed and will rest there forever as a monument to mans arrival on the moon. Also perhaps, the American Flag they will plant there will be there when kate collins gets to make her excursion to the moon. Cbs washington reports president nixon watched the lift off. He had it on the Television Set on the flight. Dan rather said even though the schedule took him to the Aircraft Carrier hornet to treat the astronauts when they return, it is being considered as an alternate plan to go to the space center in houston to greet them there. We dont know the reasoning for that. Maybe dan rather can report to us. This is purely personal speculation, but i have been curious since they announced the plan to land on the carrier hornet as to whether the secret service are terribly keen on an aircraft landing. For the president to undertake one, maybe they are having second thoughts. Pure speculation on my part. But im hearing they may go to the space center in houston rather than the hornet. Woody . When the moment came, which everybody had been waiting for, it seemed to stand them into a stun them into a frozen disbelief. They couldnt quite believe that man was on its way to worlds outside the one it the way it began. As it rose higher, it began to bring the eyes upward. Your eyes going up and your hope is going up. Finally, the whole crowd, like a mini eyed crab was looking up, and there was a small ahh when i first went up that it was staring and reaching. The poetry of hope unspoken but seen in the concentrated gestures the people had as they reached up with the rocket. Some seemed to be flattening out. Those of you that know the geography of space know that it was heading for the moon at that moment. You have a lot of patient people who stuck around because they wanted to see what they thought about it. I thought it was marvelous. This lady has been toweleing me off. Its the thrill of a lifetime. It was wonderful. I have seen 12 of them from the speech. This is beautiful. You are to get a medal for watching so many. I came from san francisco. This is really worth seeing. Do you think the young people, it means more to them than the older people like me . Yes. I think its fantastic. I came from washington dc to see this. The first one ive seen. How about you maam. I came from lagrange, georgia to see it and it is the most beautiful thing ever seen. We came down here with my husbands daddy and mother on the beach. Taking it further down, whatd you think about it . Groovy. I thought it was pretty nice. You seem more knowledgeable. Would you like to have been on it . No. Later, maybe . Maybe. Did it impress you . I had five cameras and five people and had all of them altogether. Pictures right here and now and it is beautiful. And makes us feel proud. We are part of it anywhere in the world. Most of you went to a lot of trouble to get here. What you saw was a minute of flame. Was it worth it. It sure was. Some people, i think from the picture i have here are not hearing all that much about the moonshot or are a moonshot of their own or possibly they watched then the moonshot made them so romantic that they became genuine beach people. Let me ask a couple more questions here. I have asked the young and mature what they thought. Anyone in the 20s that might be an astronaut . What did you think . It was really an experience watching it go up. We came down from michigan to see it. Its an experience when they light the torch for the olympics. Gives you a good feeling. Perhaps thats the best way of saying it. Like when they light the torch on the statue of liberty. I give it back to you, walter. This weekend, washington journal is live from the Smithsonian National air and space museum to mark the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. Michael collins. Of georgeirector washingtons policy institute. Curator, author of apollo to the moon. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal. Ofking the 50th anniversary the moon landing come alive at 7 00 eastern. Beautiful. This marks the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. A poll shows three quarters of americans watched footage come alive or recorded. That is one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. Moonwalk. Ding and sunday morning at 10 30 eastern, coverage of the apollo 11 returning to earth and greetings from president nixon. Would like you to know i am the luckiest man in the world. I say this not only because i have the honor to be president , but because i have the privilege of speaking for so many and welcoming you back. The 1969 News Coverage of the apollo 11 mission. Listen with the free radio app. A new cspan poll shows a third of americans have a favorable view of the trumpet ministry should trump administrations view to create space for spirit the Largest Group has no opinion about all. Despite the split, there are significant differences when it comes to the partisan breakdown. Almost half see it favorably who are republicans. Regardless of americans views on space force, National Security came in second