July 1969. It's a little over eight years since the flights of gagarin and shepard, followed quickly by president kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade is out. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. With these words, president john f. Kennedy signalled the start of a space race that was to end with neil armstrong stepping on to the surface of the moon. But what of the history of the apollo programme, of their great exploratory successes and the human cost of their spectacular failures? It is only seven months since nasa made the bold decision to send apollo 8 all the way to the moon on the first manned flight of the massive – saturn v rocket. Now, on the morning of july 16, apollo 11 astronauts neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and michael collins sit atop another saturn v at launch complex 39a at kennedy space centre. The three stage 363 foot rocket will use its 7.5 million pounds of thrust to propel them into space and history.   apollo story with patrick moore featuring official nasa and science museum footage. Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the momentous apollo 11 moon landing!  special features photo gallery, sir patrick moore biography