(All spoken:)
Whoa, terrific, feel the shaking! This big gla** window is shaking, & we're holding it with our hands! Look at that rocket go!
Even the rich & famous Beatles, searching for peace of mind, take off for India to study transcendental meditation with a high-priced guru. Everywhere there is heavy & continued consumption of pot. On the stage, nudity becomes popular. On the university campuses, students "sit in" to protest the existing order. And on television, Rowan & Martin do the same with their "Laugh-In."
We have ignition...
What are the Russians really up to? In--
"3, 2, 1, 0, we have commit, we have--we have liftoff at 7:31 AM, Eastern Standard Time."
"Liftoff, the clock is running."
"Roger, clock."
Time is 3:43 PM, Central Daylight Time, May 21st, & Apollo 10 is behind the moon as it goes for insertion into lunar orbit.
It's very quiet in this control room right now. Few conversations going, but not very many. Most controllers sitting at their consoles very quietly.
Spider prepares to cast off from Gumdrop to continue an Earth orbit all on its own. If it fails to manage independent flight, if it should prove unable to return for a recoupling with Apollo 9, it means d**h for McDivitt & Schweickart. The LEM, being without a heat shield, cannot return to Earth.
This is Radio Moscow...
...on our planet. Now certainly we all recognize the extremely, extremely low probability of life existing on the moon.
"Ah, thank you very much, know it'll be a good one."
"Um, CDR, STC, how do you read me?"
"STC, loud & good."
"Okay, Neil, have a good one."
"You bet."
"Alright, uh..."
This is a moment that was predicted with astonishing clairvoyance by Jules Verne, the great French master of science fiction, in imagining a moon shot that took off from Florida, with a crew of 3 men, in a spacecraft similar to Apollo 11, and named Columbia.
"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, liftoff, we have liftoff.
"Roger, clock."
"Clock start, flight, roger."
"Thrusters go, all engines, roger."
"Clear the tower!"
"Roger, we got a--"
"More--"
It is now firmly established that a rocket CAN function in a vacuum.
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
The ability for man to walk & act & live in other worlds has virtually a**ured mankind immortality. We can from now on move to where we want to go, whether other worlds can support our life, or we can modify the environment in such a way that we find other places comfortable & livable also.