War, riots, assassinations: “the year that shattered America”. And then NASA took the biggest risk in its history. There was the Vietnam War and the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy but with Apollo 8, astronauts went further from Earth than anyone had gone before and changed the way we look at our home forever. With Kevin Fong. Starring: John Aaron Bill Anders Frank Borman Jerry Bostick Michael Collins Jim Lovell Poppy Northcutt Katherine Johnson courtesy of WHRO Chris Kraft courtesy of the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project Theme music by Hans Zimmer for Bleeding Fingers Music #13MinutestotheMoon www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes This episode was updated on 19 June 2019.
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LH is minus 2900.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are deep into their 13 minutes descent to the surface of the moon.
Their attention is focused firmly inside the cabin of their lunar module eagle, as they monitor the vast array of readouts and controls.
But just for a moment, seconds before the 1202 computer alarm crisis that will threaten their landing, Aldrin's eyes are drawn briefly back home.
Roger.
We copy at the earth right out our front window.
The earth outside their window rising majestically above the lunar surface.
An arresting sight.
But they're not the first people to witness it.
That honor had been taken seven months previously by the crew of the most daring mission of the whole Apollo program.