Site atthe press channel basin, where the spacecraft is brought from the manufacturer in huntsville, alabama. And here is an interesting sight, too. Beyond our press site, over by the Vehicle Assembly building, there are scores of workers out, permitted for the first time to bring binoculars and cameras of their own to the base. Theres a holiday atmosphere. While normally during these launches, work goes on the cape to keep things on schedule, but indeed, in the Vehicle Assembly building, they have already erected apollo 12. Its ready to be rolled out as soon as apollo 11 is on its way for a launch. [beeping] walter 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 send apollo 12. We have an announcement coming up from Launch Control. And jack king. This is apollo seven Launch Control, now less than 16 minutes away from the planned liftoff of the apollo 11 space vehicle. All still going well with the countdown at this time. The astronauts aboard the spacecraft have had a little chance to rest over the last few minutes or so. At least, they havent been busy with procedures with the spacecraft. In the meantime, weve been performing final checks on the tracking beacons of the instrument unit, used as the Guidance System during the flight. Once we get down to the three minute, 10 second mark, we will go on an automatic sequence. As far as the launch vehicle is concerned, 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 those five engines of the first stage, the s1c stage of the saturn v. At the two second mark, well get information and a signal that all engines are running. And at the zero mark in the countdown, once we get the commence signal, the signal that says the thrust is proper and acceptable, we then will then get a commit and liftoff as the hold on arms release the vehicle. We have some 7. 6 Million Pounds of thrust pushing the vehicle upward, a vehicle that weighs close to 6. 5 Million Pounds. Were now 14 minutes, 30 seconds and counting. And this is kennedy Launch Control. Well be hearing a great deal from jack king as the morning goes on. Youve got a good view there 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, the critical functions of the launch. With me here at our cbs News Space Center here at Merritt Island, overlooking the launch site out there, 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 works of Science Fiction includes 2001, the great movie which recently came out. Incidentally, arthur, i just read that they showed it with Great Success in moscow last night at a film festival. Apparently got great applause there, as it has everywhere around the world. You first wrote of going to the moon back in 1930s. At a time when nobody dreamed we it would come this soon. Did you . Mr. Clark no, i didnt imagine it would be in my lifetime in those days. Walter how do you feel this morning . Mr. Clarke very excited, and and i have i came in feeling excited yet its familiar. Now im thinking about the next thing. Mars and beyond. Walter youre already thinking of mars and beyond we havent gotten to the moon yet, arthur. Thats the nature of you Science Fiction writers, i suppose. Does this about match the way you thought we would do it . Mr. Clarke as far as the Technical Details are concerned, yes. This is precisely the way it was imagined. But what we never imagined was the scale and the cost and complexity of the enterprise. In fact, if we realized how difficult and complex it would be, we would probably have been pretty discouraged back in the 1930s. We thought you could build a spaceship for a few Million Dollars. Walter it costs a few Million Dollars just to launch it. Theres been inflation since then. I think the figure they give now for just the launch alone is 69 million. Thats no equipment, just launching. Arthur all this money will come back many times over for generations to come. This has been part of the best investment the United States has ever made. In another 20 years, people will be unable to imagine why we questioned this expenditure. Walter how do you see it coming back . Mr. Clarke the Space Industries of the next generation, it will move up to for the end of the century. There are many things we find we can only do in space. There are many things on this earth we can only do with airplanes and helicopters. At one time, it seemed to be of no practical importance. This is going to happen in space. Walter do you expect they will find any surprises out there . Mr. Clarke im sure they will. Nature is always more complex and more interesting that we can anticipate. Were going to find surprises on the moon. Maybe not on this first flight, but they will eventually. I dont know if we will find a large black monolith waiting for them. [laughter] walter a reference to 2001. Tell me what thats all about. [laughter] walter for those of us who have seen 2001, theres a lot of mystery about that far out closing for the picture, which we all like, but we still argue in our family about what that means. Maybe before this whole thing is over, arthur, i expect to have you sitting beside 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, youll tell me the real secret of the monolith. Mr. Clarke ok, thats a promise. [laughter] walter hey, i think ive got something there. Hold on, arthur. Well have many more talks about the moon, how we get there, in the future. And your ideas of how we will get beyond the moon. Jack king in Launch Control now. Rotational hand controllers, the controllers they use in flight, and we have now gone to the 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. Were now coming up on the 10 minute mark, 10 minutes away from our planned liftoff. Mark, t 10 minutes and counting. Were aiming for our planned liftoff at 32 minutes past the hour. This is kennedy Launch Control. Walter and let us tell you now, some of the things youre going to be seeing here, because there is no time in the excitement and the reports of the launch itself and indeed, you can scarcely be heard over the roar of the saturn v engine, the most powerful engine as far as we know, a series of engine that has ever been used to get man off of the surface or to move them anywhere on the surface of the earth, for that matter. The russians, we believe, are developing a rocket larger than this. But we have no evidence that they have used it as yet. Well, now, about 40 seconds before launch, the water deluge begins. Youll see some evidence of it perhaps on your picture. Then, at 8 and 9 10 seconds before the actual liftoff, ignition takes place. Thats when those five f1 engines begin belching forth their million and a half pounds of thrust each. There they are, a total of 7. 5 Million Pounds of thrust. Great fuel loads there, great explosive potential, if not controlled exactly through those nozzles. Nearly nine seconds after the ignition begins, the arms fall back and the rocket with its full Power Building up is released to begin its slow climb up towards the skies. Just a couple of seconds later, it yaws, rolls a little bit, and then, with the role program complete, about a half a minute into the flight, its rolled over so its on its proper azimuth, its proper launch course. At one minute, 21 seconds into the flight, you begin to see the contrails, which indicated has reached that point in the sky where the maximum dynamic pressure of its launch and piercing of the atmosphere has , that aerodynamic load of 460,000 pounds on the skin of the spacecraft. And its one of the dangerous points of the launch. Its the maximum bumping the pilots get as they take off. At that point, eight miles high, three miles and its moving at 1800 Miles Per Hour. Then the inboard engines begin. Then, 30 seconds later, the out or engines outboard 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. And the launch escape jettisoneds six seconds after that. At seven minutes and 39 seconds, the inboard engine cuts off at the second stage, the stage that has been jettisoned earlier. The second cuts out at 7 39. The engines at 9 11. And the second stage at 9 12. Then we get the ignition, and that 11 15, the flight is on its way and we will go 15 miles high. 115 miles high. Later, 1. 52. 5 hours revolutions later, the stage fires up again to move to the 24,000 Miles Per Hour to escape the velocity and go into a trans lunar trajectory on its way to the moon last. The cbs coverage will continue in a moment. And its just five minutes to the historic launch of apollo 11 with all going well, armstrong, collins, and aldrin sitting on top of the great saturn rocket in the command module, getting ready for launch. Heres jack king in Launch Control. Jack were informing the astronauts that the swing is coming back. The astronauts will have a few more reports coming in the countdown. The last Business Report will be from Neil Armstrong at the 45 second mark in the count while he gives the status on the final alignment of the control system. Were now passing the 4 32 mark in the countdown and we do not were still go at this time. You are go for launch. From this time down, carlson handles the countdown as the launch vehicle begins to build up. Were now hitting the four minute mark, four minutes and counting, we are go for apollo 11. We will go on an automatic sequence, standing at 3 17. Walter the engines that generate the thrust, the combined course power equal to 543 jet fighter planes. The launch vehicle there weighs as much as the submarine nautilus and burns 5,660,000 pounds of fuel, the equivalent of 98 Railroad Tank Cars and the capacity of a small towns water tank. At lift off, noise reaches 102 decibels and the equivalent of 18 highflying sets at once. Jack thank you very much, we know it will be a good flight. We are on the automatic sequence. Werepproachinge the 3 approaching the three minute mark in the count. T minus three minutes and counting. Mission at this time. We are on an automatic sequence. T minus 2 45 and counting. Launch team is monitoring a number of what we call redline barriers. These are tolerances we dont want to go above and below. Theyre standing by to call out any deviations. 2 30 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 her status for it. 2 10 and counting. The target for the apollo 11 astronauts for the moon will be at a distance of 218,096 miles away. We just passed the two minute mark in the countdown, t minus 1 54 and counting. The status board indicates that the oxidizers have now pressurized. We continue to build up pressure in all three stages. We have a minute to prepare for liftoff. T minus 1 35 on the apollo mission, the flight to land the first man on the moon. All indications are coming in. 1 25 and counting. Status indications show that it is completely pressurized. 82nd mark has now been passed. Youll go through at the 50 second launch in the countdown. Internal at 17 seconds leading up to the ignition sequence of 8. 9 seconds. Were approaching the 60 second mark on the apollo 11 mission. T60 seconds and counting. Weve passed t 60. 55 seconds and counting. Neil armstrong has reported back it has been a really smooth countdown. They passed the 50 second mark. Power transformer is complete. We are now on internal power. 40 seconds away from the apollo 11 liftoff. Walter you can see the water deluge down there now. Jack were still go for apollo 11, 30 seconds and counting. Astronauts report that it feels good. 25 seconds. 20 seconds and counting. T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal. 12, 11, 10, nine, ignition sequence starts. 6, 5, 3, 4, 2, 1. Zero. All engines running. Liftoff, we have a lift off, 32 minutes past the hour. Liftoff on apollo 11. Walter oh, boy. Oh, boy, it looks good. Jack were clear. [rocket engines] [static] walter looks like a good trajectory so far. At the moment, on the way to the moon. Doesnt it . Good. Very good. Walter beautiful. Mile, altitudee 234 Miles Per Hour. 195 feet per second. Everythings held in place. Still see it . Yes, indeed. Still see a contrast. Walter see it beautifully on the screen here. Through the region of maximum dynamic pressure now. Everything looks good here. 1350 on the start. Looking at the screen and looking out the window. Standby for mode one, charlie. Mark one, charlie. Houston, you are go for staging. Walter thats for dropping the first stage, going to the second stage power. Youre hearing from Ken Mattingly at Mission Control in houston talking to the astronauts. Down range 35 miles high. Standing by. Walter and this is jack riley reporting, the voice of Mission Control. And ignition. Walter each of these events are very all engines, youre looking good. Roger, youre loud and clear, houston. Three minutes downrange, 70 miles, 30 minutes high, velocity 350 . Roger, we confirm. Neil armstrong confirming both of the engine separation and the launch escape tower separation. Houston, be advised the visual is go today. This is houston, roger that. What was that . The vision is ago. Vision is go. Houston, your guidance is converged. Youre looking good. Walter this protective cover comes off and the windows are not coded. Two miles velocity. 11 houston, you are go at four minutes. Walter the second stage of these, has millions of pounds of thrust. Thats an amazing camera that the space agency has there. We can still see the spacecraft. And at this point, its almost 93 miles high. 72 miles high, velocity 11,000 feet per second. Walter almost 8000 miles an hour. Its got to get to 17,500 get into earth orbit. We have another four minutes before the first. Booster says its looking got good at five minutes. Houston, youre go for five minutes. Walter the next critical moment will be the second stage jettison and the fourth stage ignition. Velocity, 4200 feet. Thank you. Beautifully,ming too. Everyones reporting go here in the control center. Roger 11, you are go from the ground, six minutes. My data is jumping all around. Apollo 11, this is houston. Outboard cut off at nine plus one one. Got it. Walter whatd he say was jumping around, wally . Something like the gauges . This is a sequence that arranges the staging between the second and third stage. The fuel uncovers a sensor starting the sequence. Sequence. Walter im sure its nothing of major significance. 1 17. Walter were looking at the empty launchpad and the water thats being poured over it to cool it. Eight plus 17, outboard at nine plus one, one. Walter so good is this delusion system. Velocity, 7058 per second. Walter its capable of keeping the damage to a minimum and they can turn around and use the Service Stands almost instantly. Yes, sir. Quite a change. Down on the ground, track is still go at 7 41. First to confirm. Roger, we confirm. Engines on board walter looks like another perfect launch. What a feat after mercury and gemini. Saturns on time launches, if wish we could get american railroads to run on these schedules. Was amazing is we finally got boosters here. You are go at eight minutes. Roger. We got viewership down here, too. [indiscernible] 11, this is houston, you are go for staging. Standby for remote port capability. Walter this would be the firing of the third stage in 15 seconds. Jacqueline they could get into get intothey could orbit using this Service Propulsion system. Altitude is 100 miles downrange. And, ignition. Walter ignition right on time. Thrusters, though 11. We have a good third stage now. Walter this burn lasts 2 25, and that brings the vehicle to its orbital speed. Up a couple thousand Miles Per Hour from where it was before. 23,000 feet per second. Downrange, 1000 miles. Altitude, 101 miles. D1 is on number five. 7 18. Walter third stage is a j2 engine. At 10 minutes, you are go. And roger, 11. Go. Walter i think i misidentified the capsule communicator a moment ago. The man who is communicating with the astronauts from Mission Control just called it the atlas. Apollo 11, this is houston, predicted cut off at 11 plus 42. 11 plus 42, correct. Downrange 1175 miles. 24,090 mile feet per second, altitude, 102 nautical miles. Walter there is former president johnson. Saying goodbye to a few of his friends in the stands. Apollo 11, this is houston. You are go at 11. Walter sharing with Vice President agnew, the official representative of president nixon. Vice president agnew is the top official in the administration. 25,254 feet per second. Walter we should get confirmation of orbital insertion in about 15 seconds now. Altitude 102. 8 nautical miles. Shut down right on time. 101. 44 by 103. 6. We copy. 101. 44 by 103. 6. Walter 101. 4 by 103. 6, so that would be nautical miles of the orbit for the space craft. Its been confirmed. Theyve made the first big jump. And thats Vice President agnew here on your screen. Houston, the booster is safe. Roger. Walter good to know that it is safe. That means that the district system has been shut off by the command on the ground so the s4 v cannot destroy the spacecraft. Its designed to abort and we have an escape valve bearing away. Its kind of nice to know its shut off. Walter at this point, of course, now that they are out there, their return could be a normal return to a selected landing spot by jettisoning the s4 v third stage and then going on the Service Propulsion engine. Jack just as they were at the orbital flights. Walter right, the first is always dramatic, and it received attention. The dangerous launch phase is passed and apollo 11 is on the way. Looking good, over. Roger. Thats a good secondary, yes it is. Walter tom, of course, the commander on apollo 10, that paved the way for this flight. Hes with Vice President agnew and his party. Tom has been kind of the chief greeting officer for the vvvips the last couple of days. Ive seen him coming out of the hotel there, the hilton. Hes possibly running off to make more notes to brief another important visitor. I think tom would probably say v cubed ip. [laughter] well, we remarked earlier that it got to that. But all of the foreign dignitaries, cabinet members, senators, governors, and mayors. This is the houston vanguard at 105, 35. 1630, over. Walter that report is on the los. Los is the loss of signal from vanguard up to one of the ships in the atlantic to the acquisition signal. Instrument unit of the third stage of saturn v. Here on the ground, were showing 102. 5 by 99. 7 nautical miles. The flight dynamics officer, dave reed, wants to get some radar tracking to refine the orbit. He will report a refined orbit after more radar tracking. Walter thats very near nominal , 102. 5 by 99. 7, almost 116 miles. Wally yes, it is. I think the figures differ because the radar data hasnt been smooth. More data is coming that is current. Walter it really isnt critical, the difference of one or two miles. As long as they have the possible second position over the pacific orbit so they can boost their speed from 17,000 to 25,000 miles an 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 then withe moon, and enough speed to come back to earth, but not go into moon orbit, nor be going so fast that they would bypass the moon and they would not be captured by earths gravity and go on out to the sun. Wally thats exactly it is. Walter those figures translate to 118 by 120 miles, a little bit higher than they calculated. But by less than a couple of miles, and well within range. So, we have seen another beautiful saturn launch, but this one will never be known in history or by those of us who have watched as just another saturn v launch. Not if all goes well, because this is the flight in which man will first step foot on the moon. We almost glibly toss that line away now, man on the moon, but by golly, just think it over. Cbs color coverage of the apollo 11 launch will continue in a moment. Walter apollo 11 is on the way, riding the pillar of flame from the saturn v into the skies out there 250,000 miles away where the moon is waiting for mans first arrival. The flight to take three days, and the spacecraft to reach there on saturday, the landing could take place on sunday, and Neil Armstrong to step foot on the moon at 2 21 a. M. On monday morning. The first critical phase of this launch is over. They are now in orbit and over the atlantic approaching the coast of africa and will touch shortly with the canary tracking station, where we might hear some more from them. Then over the indian ocean and back around for the first trip across the United States. On the second trip around, they will launch themselves out toward the moon itself. On the first pass around on that completion of the first orbit, they are just about overhead for the first time. Weve been told that we can expect a transmission from the Color Television camera onboard at one hour and 29 minutes into the flight. Lets look now at that beautiful launch that took place here just 23 minutes ago. By videotape, here it is. 10, 9, ignition sequence starts. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Zero. All engine running. Left off, we have a lift off 32 minutes past the hour. Lift off on apollo 11. The tower cleared. Neil armstrong reporting the roll and pitch program, which puts apollo 11 on a proper heading. Wally you used our classic astronaut word, beautiful. Roll complete. Wally the other one of course we have is fantastic. We did use that later. Walter i probably will. Just give me a chance. One bravo. One bravo is a control mode. Walter you know, actually, we watching on television have a much better view with the longrange camera than we can watching from the beach. We also looked through our glasses. By far the better view was by television. Wally this is spectacular, it really is. Walter i think 100 miles high. Incredible. Wally we found it was necessary , in fact to fly chase aircraft. It was worth reporting that it wasnt necessarily in real time, but we could see of some calamity might be developing. 12 miles high. Walter i just thought it was a photographic mission. Would you have been able to communicate fast enough so the astronauts could have done something . Wally we were on the same munication salute. Communications loop. We picked up the same frequency. You are go from staging. Wally this is a spectacular fuming. Think of how big that booster and how large the plume. Walter what the sensation when events like this take place . Wally each one is a milestone and we spent a tremendous amount of Time Training for these. And they are rather agonizing to anticipate having to do that. So you like to tick them off at asferent intervals, such 2 30, 3 35. As you pass each of these, you get one more milestone behind you and means your you are on the way to success. Walter do you actually check them off of a list or mentally . Wally i would say its a mental checklist, but the Mission Commander is really critical, because hes checking these important things. 300 feet per second. Wally of course, the escape tower jettisons and you know the flight doesnt need to be aborted. Tower is gone. Wally the tower is gone so the wings are clear. Tower separation. Walter they cant see anything . Walter only one window. They cant see anything . Wally only window. Walter the visual simulation is uptodate, and they can see one thing out the window. The first flight on mercury must have been some view. Wally ill use the word fantastic. That window is interesting. We started off in the first mercury and the first orbital flight. We had windows like portholes on either side. We had a seance. We said we need a window down the centerline like airplane drivers had. Ever since then, that window becomes kind of important because you can maintain altitude. We can restore by tumbling inadvertently or tumbling intent. That window became worthwhile, and now we do have a good view. Walter it wasnt just to give you a view of the outside world. Weve had another fact, you will get me talking that way, wally, and nobody will understand us. [laughter] walter we have the first tack on the orbit. 116 by 119, miles. By Mission Control, 117 by 114. I guess thats what we had come up with a little earlier, just about that. It comes up about 118 or 120. Not just on target. Its just what they hoped for and well within the nominal range for the destination. Wally its kind of interesting for earth orbit to elevate your orbit one mile when it takes two feet per second when you think of the fact theyre flying around 2000 feet per second. It doesnt need much to change orbit. Walter they wont worry about it. Wally this is ideal. Walter my palms are sweating. Wally you are now a member of the Mission Launch team. Walter marty was telling me that he has found that at precisely three minutes before a launch his palms become sweaty. I think i qualify for an astronaut reading, the wet palm index. Cbs news color 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 supply unit of the bell system. And by kelloggs. Kelloggs puts more in your morning. Here again is walter cronkite. Walter three fellows who are remarkable in many ways, two of them 38 years, one of them 39, all of them about the same height and weight, many of them of the same physical description. Three men, Neil Armstrong, United States air force colonel, aldrin, 39 years old, montclair, new jersey, and 38yearold air force Lieutenant Colonel michael collins, born in rome, italy. His late father a general in the United States army, as was his grandfather and his brother. They are on the way to the moon. They were launched here from cape kennedy, pad 39a. Which will forever be a historic mark. The launch was at 9 32 eastern standard time. They are in orbit above the earth. They are traveling at 17,500 Miles Per Hour approaching the coast of africa on that first trip around the world. On the second trip, they will fire off their third stage engine again, and they will be on the way to the moon and mans first landing there. And here with me at our cbs News Space Center is the distinguished Vice President of the United States, who was here to watch the launching. His role as the chief of the Space Council. So good to see you. This was quite a launch. Vice president agnew it certainly was. Each one of them is quite a launch, but i think the more you see, the more exciting you get. Its the first one ive seen from the outside. Walter did anything about the launch surprise you . Vice president agnew i think you get to learn about rings that make you apprehensive. Like the lean out. Walter and a slow climb is frightening the first time you see it. Even though you know it will be that way, you just cant believe its really moving. You getsident agnew that sense that youre waiting for something to take off quickly and it does not happen. Walter absolutely. V. P. Agnew no, that it was a beautiful sight. I am filled with a real feeling of great pride for these people, not just the three men, but the people behind the program. I just see a great future for this program. Walter out there, when it went tears in there were the eyes of many people. Theres an emotional release as you watch the thing go up. And it must mean so much to the thousands of people out there on the cape who put everything into this mission, who are the Unsung Heroes of it. V. P. Agnew yes, ive had a chance to get to know some of the astronauts because of being down for these shots. I just wanted say to the people in the country that these are the greatest, most dedicated men ive ever run into in or out of public or military life anywhere. They have a sense of purpose, a sense of modesty that is overwhelming. And they are so natural. They are the greatest ambassadors we have, certainly. Walter you know, its the nature of the americans and the people in the Space Program particularly to constantly look beyond where we are. This is the nature of the man who wants to go to the moon. Now were on the way to the moon. We have high hopes for the succession of the mission. We are over the first big hurdle and were out there in orbit. Landing has not been accomplished yet. Its a tough job to do. Everybody is looking forward and everybody is saying what this administrations intentions will be towards space and beyond the moon. The reporter was saying let me read the quote and lets talk about it a moment. He said i think the United States should take a ambitious project in space. I think we should attempt aterplanetary exploration and mans sense. Do you just think that or do you plan that with the Space Council . V. P. Agnew the Space Council doesnt have the thrust to do any planning right now. Were engaged in a Task Force Effort to present some recommendations to the president by september as to what happens after apollo, assuming this is a successful mission. Of course, we have other apollo flights to follow. We feel, we in the task force feel, that we must articulate a broad objective for the future. Now theres a great amount of disagreement among the people who are participating in these discussions. And i would have to say, as i said this morning, i represent a minority viewpoint in saying that we should be a little bit forthcoming and saying where were 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, long range 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 wed be out of line in saying that we are going to put a man on mars by the end of this century. And i think we should do it, because based on the rate of progress that weve shown, i think its possible that even if we dont say it, its going to happen. I think the average man wants something to look forward to. I know all the objections about the spending 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 that this mission is successful to follow with apollo 12, in getting appropriations for nine more Apollo Missions . V. P. Agnew no, i dont inc. Think that will be a problem. Walter what about the next step, then moving on immediately to a mars orbiting space station . Do you think people are ready for that step . V. P. Agnew of course thats a step that probably has to come about as an intermediate move before we could even think about interplanetary exploration. I believe that the public is ready to undertake this measure. All over the country and the world, there is a tremendous enthusiasm about this idea of frontiers, and frontiers of such a magnitude that they make the explorations of earth explorers look rather puny by comparison. Think, get a little blase in our Country Living in the midst of all these technical miracles that we have performed. Were already doing this space thing. Teflon is one small example and transistors. We live with them every day. I think maybe the American People might find a new inspiration for further excitement toward Space Exploration when they hear how the world reacts to this feat. V. P. Agnew we seem to have our attention directed more and more to the world reaction. Last night, i had a chance to the leader of finland. He found an outpouring of sentiment in that country, an affinity with the United States. After all, this is something you can apply patriotism to without a war. This is a great place to be a little chauvinistic. Walter the space people points out that it takes. 5 of 1 of our Gross National product to have enough of a budget for them to go on, 4 million a year. The soviets reported the start of the liftoff just four minutes after. They gave the launch and the names of the crewmembers. Oscar television, however, did not show the liftoff live and did not have regular programming to report it. Although, the liftoff was being shown everywhere else around the world thanks to satellites, probably. V. P. Agnew you know, they brought it up and the soviet press reaction, the commander had a chance to meet with a cosmonaut who also lives in finland. Theres a real rapport between the people and these two programs. I think there are real possibilities in the future of getting cooperative ventures moving and possibly in exchange of some information and collaboration on some hardware in the future, so that we can come to a cooperative stance with the soviet union. They may be of immeasurable assistance in arms disarmament talks and the general diplomacy of the world. And were ready. We have an open program. We dont hide anything in this program. Well be as forthcoming in the future as they get more excited. Walter are there any plans to make another open offer to the soviet union for cooperation once weve reached the moon . V. P. Agnew well, im not certain. Thats a decision that can only be made by the president , and i know hes considering all of the factors involved. We want to do everything that we can possibly do to relieve tension in the world, whether it is in the Space Program, middle east, far east, and in whatever case. But i think youve got to be pragmatic enough to realize that some indication of acceptance in this idea has to come from the other side, and not 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 station, which we can all launch up to the distant planets. Maybe we can get to that point. V. P. Agnew that gives us a great chance. Walter thank you very much. I know they are waiting for you. Thank you very much, sir. Vice president agnew was here to watch this momentous occasion for apollo 11 in his capacity as chairman of the president s Space Council. And 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 going very well at this point, some 41 minutes into the flight, theyre about halfway around the world. They should be about over the indian ocean approaching australia at this time. The orbit is now stabilized at 118 by 118 miles. They are in circular orbit and we are told that the heart rates are being revealed to us, are far below what was recorded on the gemini flight. First theyve each had one flight before. Just listen to this. These are some pretty cool test pilots up there. As you can see on your screen, were showing some of the crowd beginning to leave the area of the manned space center. Some of the crowd, some have estimated as high as one million persons have jammed the roads from miles around to watch the launch. But 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. And on his first gemini flight, he was already low at 110. But what cool, unexcitable pilots these men are. To sit on top of the huge saturn rocket 36 stories high, up there on all of that explosive fuel , the engines pounding out 7. 5 Million Pounds of thrust. Theyre making this historic flight to be the first man on the moon and their heartbeat is down. Its remarkable. I doubt that my heartbeat would be like anything like that. Cbs News Coverage will continue in a moment. Walter the flight of apollo 11, now halfway around the earth on the first orbit of the worth of the earth. Its on the second orbit. It will be preparing to fire the third stage engines and go into its trajectory toward the moon. It is approaching carnarvon, the tracking station on the west coast of australia, north of perth, as you see at their over the indian ocean. All the reports of the astronauts have been most encouraging. Apparently, all the systems are functioning well. We have another successful spacecraft in orbit, and now for even more difficult phases of the flight ahead. We have a report from ohio, where mr. And mrs. Stephen armstrong watched the launch. Misses armstrong told newsmen she talked to her son before the launch and he was his usual happy self just like he usually is. The capsule told Mission Control it sure is clear down there. Its like sitting in your own living room. These are cool pilots, as weve said. They havent been very talkative as of yet. Theres not a great deal to talk about. Theyre reporting out readings, and its all going, which is all of the utmost importance to the space center as they test the systems and they are ready for the next go no go decision. Thats to fire the third phase. In a way, theres an indication to those of us who are professional newsmen of the awesome nature of this flight to this morning, and the in story, i guess youd say. Down in our space center newsroom, right below me in our space center at Merritt Island by the launch complex, three minutes before this launch this morning, both the Associated Press and United Press International machines clattered to a stop, and not another word was transferred which carries news from all around the world on the wires. Nothing came along again until after the liftoff of apollo 11. It seemed that the whole world probably stopped, heart and its mouth, to wait for this historic moment as man set out on the great adventure, adventure to escape from his own planet and set foot on a distant one