Collection · 1957 — 1972
To The Moon and Beyond
1957-1972: The Words That Launched Humanity Into Space
From Sputnik's shock to footprints on the Moon. The speeches that turned science fiction into reality and united a nation in the ultimate competition.
The arc runs fifteen years. Eisenhower responds to Sputnik by creating NASA. Kennedy gambles on the Moon against the technical advice of his own agency. Johnson nurses the budget through the grind years. Webb tells the country that three men have died on the launch pad. Borman reads Genesis from lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. Armstrong steps into the regolith at the Sea of Tranquility. Nixon closes the programme three years later — and no human has returned since.
Distance From Earth · Measured Progress
1957 · 215 km
Sputnik 1
First artificial satellite — LEO.
1961 · 327 km
Gagarin (Vostok 1)
First human in orbit.
1962 · 260 km
Glenn (Friendship 7)
First American orbital flight.
1965 · 0 km
Leonov first spacewalk
12 minutes outside Voskhod 2.
1967 · 0 km
Apollo 1 fire
Three astronauts lost on the launch pad.
1968 · 384,400 km
Apollo 8 — lunar orbit
First humans to leave Earth's gravitational influence.
1969 · 384,400 km
Apollo 11 — lunar surface
Sea of Tranquility, 20 July 1969.
1972 · 384,400 km
Apollo 17 — last surface mission
Cernan remains the last human to walk on the Moon.
Interactive Timeline · 1957 — 1972
Further Reading & Viewing
Books on rhetoric & great speeches
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A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
Andrew Chaikin
The definitive narrative history of Apollo, based on interviews with 23 of the 24 Moon-voyagers.
View on Amazon →First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
James R. Hansen
The authorised Armstrong biography — basis for the 2018 film.
View on Amazon →Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon
Craig Nelson
Heavily sourced account of Apollo 11 from the Saturn V design through splashdown.
View on Amazon →Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys
Michael Collins
Widely regarded as the best astronaut memoir — by Apollo 11's command module pilot.
View on Amazon →Full Moon
Michael Light
Large-format photographic collection of NASA's Apollo archives, printed from master negatives.
View on Amazon →The Right Stuff
Tom Wolfe
Wolfe's new-journalism account of the Mercury era that preceded Apollo.
View on Amazon →Apollo 13 (Ron Howard / Universal, 1995)
Ron Howard
Academy Award-winning dramatisation — technical accuracy vouched for by Jim Lovell and Gene Kranz.
View on Amazon →For All Mankind (Al Reinert, 1989)
Al Reinert
Oscar-nominated documentary built entirely from Apollo mission footage and astronaut narration.
View on Amazon →Browse the full speech library
Beyond the Space Race, our library catalogues hundreds of historic addresses with rhetorical breakdowns and verified transcripts.
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