n the summer of 1966, America’s space program raced forward with Gemini flights in Earth orbit while new facilities were built to meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon. During that time, NASA provided an opportunity to view work going on inside the gates of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. In years to come, the visitor complex became one of the premier attractions in Florida.
According to an ancient Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” NASA is preparing to return astronauts to the Moon followed by exploration of Mars, a planet that is 121 million miles from Earth. Those journeys began 60 years ago with a single, 116-mile “step” into space by Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961.
Apollo 14 launched 50 years ago, on Jan. 31, 1971. “It’s been a long way, but we’re here,” said Alan Shepard as he stepped from the lunar module onto the Moon’s Fra Mauro highlands. It was more than a 240,000-mile trip – it was a hard-fought return to flight for NASA’s Apollo Program and America’s first person in space.