WEBVTT

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- [Narrator] Why, some say, the moon?

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Why choose this as our goal?

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And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain?

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Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

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Why does Bryce play Texas?

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We choose to go to the moon, we choose to go to the moon

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in this decade and do the other things,

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not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

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- [Narrator] US airmen have been involved in the

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nation's space program since before the first American

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astronauts were selected in 1959.

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Of the branches of services, 40% of all military

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astronauts have come from the Air Force.

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Beginning with the man in space soonest, or MIST project,

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the Air Force collaborated with the National Advisory

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Committee for Aeronautics.

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The organization that would later become NASA.

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The goal of the mission was to create an Air Force-manned

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military space system development plan,

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which ultimately would achieve an early capability

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to land an astronaut on the moon and return safely

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to earth.

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Budgetary issues lead to the scrapping of the MIST

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mission in 1958.

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The newly formed NASA organization took the reigns

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of sending a man to the moon and selected the first

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astronaut candidates in 1959 as part of

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Project Mercury.

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Mercury shared the same goals as MIST.

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In cooperation with various military and civilian

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agencies.

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The famous Mercury Seven military test pilots included

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Air Force pilots, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr.,

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Donald Kent Slaton, and Virgil Gus Grissom.

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Unfortunately, Grissom, along with his crew members,

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Ed White and Roger Cathy, would become the frist

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casualties of the project Mercury follow-up,

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the Apollo program.

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Apollo became NASA's focus as the 1960s space race

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intensified between the United States and Russia.

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With both trying to reach the moon first.

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Apollo missions seven through 10 served as tests

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for the main goal of the program,

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getting to the moon.

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By Apollo 11, Air Force pilots Buzz Aldrin and

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Michael Collins accompanied Navy pilot,

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Neal Armstrong, on the voyage that saw the first

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step on the moon.

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- [Narrator] That's one small step for man,

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one giant leap for mankind.

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- [Narrator] Aldrin became the second man to touch

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the surface of the moon nine minutes after

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Neal Armstrong first took a giant leap for mankind.

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Six more Apollo missions launched from 1959 to 1972,

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ending with Apollo 17.

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After achieving success and landing on the moon,

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the space shuttle program was launched in 1977.

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It's official name, Space Transportation System,

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or STS was taken from a 1969 plan for a system of

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reusable spacecraft, of which it was the only item

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funded for development.

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Fred Hayes Jr., an Air Force pilot from the famed

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Apollo 13 mission piloted the first shuttle in the

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approach and landing test, or alt mission.

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The long running shuttle program would eventually

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roll into the mission for the International Space Station,

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a habitable artificial satellite in low orbit

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above the earth.

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The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific

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research and has seen some of the world's brightest

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minds on board, including airmen like Colonel Jack Fisher

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who logged 136 days in space with two space walks.

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The need for Air Force astronauts hasn't diminished.

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The recruitment and application process can be long

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and difficult, demanding the best of the best

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the service has to offer as the Air Force continues

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to have a strong role in space exploration.

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- [Narrator] Commence liftoff.

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