READER’S DIGEST
July• 2019 | 31parts, 91 engines, and when loaded
with propellants weighed 2768 tons
- the weight of an average naval de-
stroyer. “No one individual can claim
credit for that bird,” said von Braun. It
had been fashioned by 300,000 Amer-
icans, fabricated by 20,000 industries.
This one mission alone would cost
$320 million. The entire Apollo pro-
gramme to date had almost reached
$29,000 million. Suddenly the heli-
copter passed over the perimeter of
the 35,612-hectare Kennedy Space
Center. While the pilot kept his hands
on his set of dual controls, von Braun
gently set the machine down near the
Administration Building
“I didn’t know you could fly a hel-
icopter,” his companion said as they
clambered out.
Von Braun laughed. “It’s the first
time I’ve landed one,” he admitted.
The four-storey Launch Control
Center is the closest major building to
Pad 39. The side facing the pad cants
back at a sharp angle.
This morning the canted building
seemed to be rearing back in fright-
ened awe of the giantApollo11, 5.6
kilometres away. Inside, there was
an almost visible fog of tension. Voic-
es were hushed. Everyone knew that
in spite of all the testing, the built-
in safeguards, back-up systems and
the knowledge gained from previous
Apollo flights, this mission was the
most hazardous ever attempted by
humankind.
Von Braun entered Launch Room
1 and took up his position at a com-
municator console in a glass booth.
Opening his battered briefcase, he
extracted a thick mission manu-
al detailing the minute-by-minute
countdown. He knew it by heart. He
pulled on his earphones, flicked one
of the switches that could cut him in
on any of 20-odd intercom circuits,
glanced at the television screens and
saw the three astronauts boarding
the crew transfer van for the short
journey to Pad 39A. At that moment,
von Braun – the man who probably
had contributed more than any other
American to this epochal day – had
one deep regret: he wished he were
going with them.
Actually, hundreds of others
shared the credit for making this
day possible. Among them were Dr
Kurt Debus, 60, the centre’s director;
Lieutenant-General Sam Phillips,
48, the Apollo programme chief; Dr
George Mueller, 51, NASA’s associ-
ate administrator for manned space
f light. It was Phillips and Mueller
who on June 26 had made the mo-
mentous decision that, after eight
years of development and training,
both men and machines were ready
for the moon. One man alone now
had operational control: the launch
director, Rocco Petrone, son of an
immigrant Italian policeman.
Stretching away before Petrone,
in row after row, was his 400-person
launching team. There were experts
on propellants, guidance systems,