From Random House
July 16,1969. Cape Kennedy, Florida
A huge white rocket tower against the blue sky. It is
thirty -six stories high. It weighs over six million pounds. It is called the Saturn V. it is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever built.
Today it is going to make the dream of many centuries come true. It will send three men where no human being has ever been before. To the moon.
A few miles away almost a million people crowd the highways and beaches. Small boats full of excited people dot the ocean. They have all come to see the launch. People are not allowed any closer. The danger of an explosion is too great.
watching their television screen. Everyone wants to share the longest, most incredible voyage in history.
As launch time approaches, three astronauts in gleaming white spacesuits walk toward the huge rocket. Their names are Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
The men get into an elevator. They ride up to the top of the launch tower. There, at the very tip of the launch tower, a spacecraft is waiting. It is called Apollo11.
Soon the astronauts are inside the cramped spacecraft, strapped tightly to their seats. They are excited and tense.
For many months they have prepared for this journey. They know every inch of the spacecraft. Every detail of the flight plan. They are as ready as anyone can be to go into the unknown. Now their lives will depend on nine million bits of machinery working exactly right.
Around the planet millions of people are
The astronauts wait uuietly. Then over their
radios they hear the voice of mission control wish them good countdown begins:”10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0......liftoff.”It climbs higher and higher, trailing smokes and fire.
luck and Godspeed. It is time. Time to shoot for the moon. The
The rocket rises into the air with an ear-splitting roar. Miles away people watch in awe. They are deafened
by the noise. The ground shakes under them. The rocket looks like a streak of flame. Can anyone ride in it and survive? Inside the Apollo the astronauts are shoved back into their seat. The spacecraft jerks and rattles and sway. The men never look away from their controls. So far, so good.
The first rocket stage drops away. Then the second.
The ride gets tougher as the third stage takes over.
Less than twelve minutes have passed since the launch.
But the Apollo is already more than one hundred miles away stretch of their planet-land, sea, and clouds.
from Earth. Through their window the astronauts can see a vast
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