As we approach the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first steps on the Moon, our ability to reflect on those events is thanks in part to how the moment was shared with people around the world. The Apollo 11 mission was not the first time television signals returned from the orbit of the Moon, but the landing in July 1969 was by far the most important to get just right.

"When I was a kid – maybe 5 or 6 – I remember my dad calling me into the living room and sitting me down in front of our almost comically tiny black-and-white TV screen."

Bob Gilruth, more than anyone else, created the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and the Houston center that managed them.

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the first astronaut to receive a degree of Doctor of Science (Sc.D). We explore his thesis on “Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous.”

Abraham Silverstein (1908-2001), created and named the Apollo program and, most critically, pushed the adoption of liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel for the boosters that launched Apollo.