reporter: catch the imagination it did. we re under way. reporter: on february 20th, 1962 john glenn became the first american to orbit the earth. oh, that view is tremendous. we choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. reporter: the mercury program would ultimately have six manned flights. each mission a step closer to the ultimate goal. then, as mercury was winding down, on november 22nd, 1963, president kennedy was assassinated. to honor his memory and the future of the works he started, the nasa center in florida shall hereafter be known as the john f. kennedy space center. reporter: in april 1964 nasa launched the gemini program.
there would be apollo 17 or he would be on it yet he was given the final flight in the program. this is the last of the moon landings but not the least because this has got to be the best, right? yes, sir. that s the way we feel about it. his crew ron evans and the first nonmilitary trained astronaut geelg jack smith that launched america s first ever at night took place on december 7th, 1972. the flight went smoothly while looking back at the earth, schmidt snapped this photo now known as the blue marble picture. we had our view of a fully full earth. i took that at about 34,000 miles away. nasa tells me it is still the most requested photograph from the apollo archives. apollo 17 arrived at the moon on december 11th jt first i remember looking out at mountainous valley i am now where no human being has ever been before. it s beautiful. one of the most proud
our interest was the earth. reporter: with the world engrossed in apollo 8 s epic journey, they took turns reading from the old testament. god said let the waters of the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. and god called the dry land earth. the old testament is the basis of the world s religions, not just christians. so we thought that was very appropriate. reporter: they relayed a sighting that delighted children worldwide. there is a santa claus. did your family delay the christmas celebration until you got back? partly. i planned ahead of time and gave my wife a president that essentially the card said from the man in the moon. reporter: apollo 8 showed
took one small step back to the future the unmanned orion space capsule to wait orbited the earth before splashing down in the pacific ocean. orion may land astronauts on meteor or surface of mars. but spending on nasa is near historic lows that is literally and figuratively a long ways away. maybe by spending a little time looking back we can at least learn anew the lesson that apollo showed us. if we as americans set ourv=;z øhg]e#jy=c/3/lj3 sights on a goal and some will to achieve it, even of the sky isn t the limit. i m neilfor cavuto.er thanks for watching. $3 billion? $4.5 billion? the answer is. up to $4.5 billion. using your computer s built-in energy-saving features can generate
orbit. we were behind. we were lagging. reporter: america scrambled to catch up. less than one month later on may 5th, alan shepard one of the mercury seven became the first american in space. just over three months into his presidency, john f. kennedy like millions of other americans across the country was glued to his television. alan shepard became an instant hero that this country needed. but a cosmonaut circled the earth a month before. reporter: they sought out advice from nasa s top engineers. one was famed rocket scientist von braun. president kennedy here with missile expert von braun began a two-day tour of u.s. space centers. i read a letter from von braun, he wrote to kennedy, when he said how can we beat the