Kennedy Space Center, 16 July 1969: The 'Space Race' had raged for nearly 12 years between the USSR and the United States, the Soviets almost always in the lead. But now, on this warm Florida Wednesday morning, in the shadow of the 363-foot Saturn V rocket, the prophetic words of fallen President John F. Kennedy from eight years before echoed across Launch Pad A ...

"... 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."

The countdown has begun. The eyes of the world turn to three men in bulky white suits, poised to ride a pillar of liquid fire into history ... or disaster. Could a man really walk on the moon? Would all the theoretical mathematics and careful preparations see him safely home ... or would he and his landing craft simply disappear in silence beneath the sea of soft lunar dust on the moon's surface, never to be seen again?

Three ... Two ... One ...