we've done some sort of theater so it kind of we all can work together and i think it helps balance out this year to get us here. >> why you think it's important for people your age to know about the radium girls? >> i personally think it's important because, when you think about it these women were small specks of rotisserie. they did not really have much to say. as you go throughout learning them you realize everyone has a voice, and a right to see what they want to say. no one should be defiled down to someone they are not. >>i'm been add to that. it also shows, little people can do big things. and a lot of people's say, oh, i'm just 14 i can do anything, but these women were very young. they're in their 20s or early 20s, and they fought against a whole corporation for worker endangerment. >> and without this cause-and-

effect situation i think it caused that because because of this, the situation at top and with this dangers of the working area, it led to all of these labor laws and safety act that protect us now. so without this, and these women standing up for themselves and improving all those people wrong, we went have the safety act and laws we have today. >> thank you all very much. >> thank you. >> we are featuring american history tv programs as a preview of what's available every weekend on cspan3, lectures and history, american artifacts, real america , the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and a special event coverage about our nations history. enjoy american history tv now, and every weekend on cspan3. coming up next, moonwalk one, 1970 feature-length documentary about the july 1959

69 apollo mission to the moon. after that vice president mike pence on mark's -- talks about neil armstrong's apollo 11 space suit when it went on display for the first time, to mark the 50th anniversary of the apollo mission. and then talking to spacesuit testers and designers. >>1 million warnings forgotten by the mind of man. don remembers again the magic circle. stonehenge. [ music ]

>>magic circle, observatory, temple, aligned with the rising of the sun and the turning of the heavens. stones from afar, brought by man to this place where no stones were before.

more than 3000 years ago. [ music ]

>> apollo 11, 15 july, 1969 cape kennedy florida the night before that day. >>[ music ]

>> 6 million pounds of machine, 36 stories tall. nearly 10 years of work and half 1 million people. through the night, it was double checked, electronically monitored, computerized, televised. dehumanized, of human error. while the night of celebration was ending, the day began for the astronauts. medical examination, sitting up

suiting up, neil armstrong commander of apollo 11. edwin buzz aldrin, lunar module pilot. michael collins, command module pilot.

[ indiscernible ] >>it can take them early 90s, it can take them 39 days.

far across the indian river, 12 miles away, the rocket. at 6:30 2 am, three hours before lunch, on pad 39 a, armstrong and aldrin walked on the surface of the earth, their next steps would be on the moon. spectators rolled in by the thousands. campers, trailers, cars, and pickups in the campsites and beaches. the highways, lined the parkways, nose to tail gate, cape canaveral to titusville.

>> it's very satisfactory for launch this morning. within cloud cover, temperature of launch expected to be 82 degrees. one hour and 29 minute. and counting.

>> propeller load pressure and temperature, digital worldwide tracking, stabilization indictments and radiofrequency and voice communications. signal condition integration, spacecraft electrical power. flight control, as part b per- person state monitoring, as one seem proportion stage, every important valve, gauge and circuit was continually monitored at launch control center throughout the 24 hour countdown. >> d- 55 minutes 10 seconds and counting. >>among the 6000 special guests, were vice presidents, and the president, from washington and 205 u.s. congressman.

19 governors, 30 senators, 50 mayors from cities across the country. movie celebrities and television so personalities and another two plane loads of dignitaries from europe. around the world another morning. that's a very

different from the morning before, or tomorrow morning. >> this day on which man will leave the earth to walk on the moon, 3 billion people went about their daily lives. some in the way their ancestors did centuries before. others in a world shaped by modern technology. it seems, most people were unaware that this event might change the history of the human race. that this morning, would be marked in history books, and

learned by the children's children. what age of man will the meaning of this morning be underserved understood? this is apollo saturn launch control, we passed the six minute mark countdown for apollo 11 the flight to land for the first man on the moon. the present time for our planned lift off of 32 minutes past the hour. coming up shortly, the space

craft level will come back to fully retracted position, this should occur at the five minute mark and the counts. and then the countdown continues. informing the astronauts that the swing on not coming back, four minutes and counting. we are go for apollo 11. they will come up in the automatic sequence, 10-15 seconds from the time. the vehicle is 32 pressurized as far as the propeller takes arc concerns. firing commands coming in now, on an automatic sequence, there's the master computer, supervisors occurring over these last few minutes. two minutes, 10 seconds and counting. oxidized things on the second and third stages, pressurized. one minute 35 seconds d-. third stage completely pressurized. d- 62nd and counting, we passed d- 60, 55 seconds and counting,

neil armstrong reported back when you were served just good wishes, thank you very much it will be a very good flights. good luck, and godspeed. 40 seconds away, from the apollo 11 lift off. our second stage tanks are pressurized, 32nd and counting we are still go with apollo 11. the second and counting. astronauts report it feels good d- 25 seconds. 20 seconds and counting. d- 15 seconds, guidance is internal, 12, 11, 10, nine, ignition sequence starts.

>> [ music ] >> standby for mode one charlie. mark mode one charlie.

houston, you are go. >>command center.

you are looking good. your loud and clear houston. >> >> with apollo was safely underway control of the mission was controlled switch to houston in the months of tightly focused on the caper over, i can honestly be said is

is a compilation of dreams and fantasies, men and women over 25 centuries of recorded time. [ clapping ] >>[ indiscernible ] >>[ clapping ] >> and robert goddard, the american record rocket pioneer

they called him the moon man and laughed. on his own he went ahead and designing and inventing and test them. his first proving grounds were on his aunt at nice farm in massachusetts. the neighbors complained. with a grant from daniel guggenheim he moved to new mexico, with his wife esther who was also his camera woman. goddard had invented and launched the world's first liquid propellant rocket in 1926. in the and the, he had 200 patents from everything from multistage rockets of fuel pumps and engines. [ music ]

>> by the year 1930 has rocket achieved a speed of 500 miles per hour, at an altitude of 2000 feet. this was the year in which the three apollo astronauts were born. goddard had a vision. of the age of space. the world was too slow to make it happen before his death. thank you robert goddard for your inventiveness and perseverance. for most people, the trip to the planets with easy, all you needed was a $.10 movie ticket and a nickel bag of popcorn. [ music ] >>what was that?

>> i don't know. >> if the ship coming up fast behind us. >> here it comes, you need to put it in reverse. what science fiction in the childhood of the space age, could have guessed the shape of reality? the saturn five rocket, three stages, 28 stories tall, with 11 engines as powerful as all the waterfalls in north america combined. years in the planning, months in the building and testing, the saturn first stage lived

two minutes and 41 seconds. >>all engines go you are looking good. >>i hear you loud and clear. >>two minutes and 41 seconds, time to slow flow flew apollo 11 into the sky and an empty shell to fall back into the sea. >>roger we confirm. >>roger tower. >> neil armstrong confirming the engine separation and launch escape tower separation. >>houston, we have a right

magnificent ride. >> roger 11 we will put that on it looks like you are well on your way now. >> >> 11 houston you are good, downrange 140 miles, altitude 62 miles, velocity. >> mission control took over in cape kennedy for the duration of the duration duration. the complicated technology of apollo saturn, evolved from a ingenious simple concepts. lunar orbit rendezvous. this requires rocket made in many pieces. it discards the useless weight of each piece, when its function is completed. the flight began with a vertical lift through the heavy lower atmosphere, and a tilt to the east, at 6000 miles per hour the empty first stage is discarded to save weights. so is a a doctor ring and the unused escape tower. with the second page firing, a reaches 15,000 miles per hour when it to is let go.

the third stage, places apollo in earth orbit. when the spacecraft has been thoroughly checked out by the crew, the third stage fires again. it's speed now tearing it free from the earth gravity. while coasting hour the command service module separates, and docs for access to the lunar module. the empty third stages left behind. apollo loses speed throughout 9/10 of its journey into the men's gravity, overcomes the pull of the earth, apollo fires and reverse direction. going down enough to be captured in orbit about the moon. armstrong and aldrin enter the eagle leaving collins in the command service module and lunar orbit. eagle slows more, and breaks to a touchdown on the lunar

surface. after the moonwalk, the upper stage of the eagle list off, leaving behind the useless landings page, and swings into orbit dock with columbia once again. when the crew and moon samples are transferred to the command service module, the lunar module is discarded. the command service module, fires itself out of lunar orbit and falls back to earth. as it approaches the reentry speed of nearly 25,000 miles per hour, the surface module drops away. the command module plunges into the atmosphere, protected by its heat shields. flowed still more by the heavy lower atmosphere, it parachutes into the sea. the command module columbia, is

all that remains of the original 3000 tons of rocket, fuel and cargo. >> apollo 11 this is used in over. >> while on earth's orbit, the apollo crew had less than two hours to check out these these craft systems. the last chance to discover and correct any malfunction for the third stage engine is restarted to break them free of earth. the translator injection. >> we are 10 minutes away from ignition and translator injection. >> apollo 11 this is houston, you are go for doi over. >>poi -- t oi. >> slightly one minute less to ignition and everything is go. >> roger. >> ignition. >> we confirm ignition.

>>guidance looking good, velocity 26,000 feet per second. telemetry and radar tracking both solid, velocity 27,800 feet per second. >> to the window of the command module, the earth and gently slipped away. >> apollo 11 this is houston, thrust is good and everything is still looking good. >>29,000 feet per second, building up toward 30 feet 30,000 feet per second. >> apollo 11 this is houston, 3 1/2 minute, you are still at ingrid. still predicted cut off is right on there. >>deep space tracking antennas the third of a world apart, listen to apollo and spoke to apollo. as the earth turned at least one of them would have contact with apollo at all times, except when it passed behind the moon.

>> altitude 152. >> 35,000 paper second. cut off. velocity 35,570. feet per second. altitude 177, nautical miles. >> at three hours 11 minutes into the mission, distance from earth, 3140 nautical miles. it in a stable attitude for separation. >> apollo 11 is houston, you are go for separation. >>using bottle primary one for checklist. >>roger. >> we are awaiting confirmation of separation.

>> roger. >> confirming separation on the ground. >> apollo 11 this is houston, [ indiscernible ] >> the goldstone station reports a very weak signal. we believe, mike is maneuvering with the spacecraft and transposition and docking maneuver and the antenna patterns are not to get at the moment. so we have a week signal strength. >> the command service module separated and turned around to dock with eagle lunar module. >> apollo 11 this is houston had he read? how do you read? >> apollo 11 this is houston, radio check over.

>>roger, we are copying you are about five by two, can you give us a status report please. >> loud and clear now mike we understand. >>good. apollo 11 houston, we recommend you exempt 49, continue your sequence we will analyze the data after we go over okay? >> onboard was a forebrain, small computer call disk e, it would solve problems and help with a long sequence of system checks and data exchanges with earth. >>this just disappeared, then by. >>apollo 11, houston we would

like to get back on star 44 over. >>they found their way across the sea of space, navigating by the stars that guided columbus to shores unknown. >> 11 houston we do copy. >>three days, falling to the moon. three of the grant -- free of the gravity of earth, no up, no down, nor day, night. a sense of stillness while traveling this at the speed of a mediator about me their while traveling at the speed of a mediator meteor. >> constantly monitored by earth. within this tiny spacecraft, a

temporary earth environment. warmth, air, food, water, everything necessary to sustain life. beyond these fragile walls, nothingness. absolute cold. a and two life. the most important function of the spacecraft, life, was also monitored closely. telemetry. the heartbeat and breathing of the just are not, although each breath was 30,000 feet farther from earth in the breath before it. should one heart flutter, it would once be a matter of concern to millions world the way. unlike any other place man had trouble before, space could provide him with nothing. it is a vacuum, devoid of every element needed for life. to send man into this

nothingness, to protect him, it was first as terry to define him. what is the human machine? how does it function? what is the nature of his nervous system? it's respiration? is circulation? digestion? site? hearing? balance? it's endurance. >> what gases to bring to take with them to earth, what atmospheric pressure suits them best? is it possible to give him a more efficient space travel then

nature provides on earth? >> >> the moon is 250 degrees hot in sunlight, and 240 degrees below zero in the middle of its night. how long can a man bake, or freeze? what protection will you need from this inhuman environment? what strains will the heartache when the pressure of gravity is remained from removed from the limbs.

>> what protection will the body needs from sudden deceleration, or acceleration? >> man sense of direction, speed and balance are easily folds. can his mind be trained for this? >>

>> we were defining the physical man in absolute terms. >> once we knew men's limitation, we could build him an artificial environment for space travel. columbia, the command module, was a supreme achievement of the technology of its age. it was a mini planet, complete with its own environmental control system.

telecommunications, electrical power, guidance, navigation, stabilization, propulsion. reaction control, and provided hot, and cold water. it removed carbon dioxide from the air. through men, -- three men could live here for more than a week e-commerce work, sleep, exercise and listen to music. it was micro media proof, burn proof, and seaworthy. and it could tilt it self in any direction, in short, it was a most intricate and sophisticated machine, ever made by man. as for man however, we were stuck with the original model, all we could do is add an outer layer of things he doesn't naturally have. space medicine showed us where men are vulnerable and we learn to compensate for most weaknesses with technology and careful workmanship.

>>the fact is, i was new but i needed to learn all over again even though i learned the first time is completely different. is getting right onto 64th of an inch, and before you get on a production line. this here, is quality more than quantity. >> our job is to harvest. we have the hardest job. when they say who did so and so? you find out that job is harder than yours. a lot of times we are selling or making things to maybe they're doing the same thing but we never see the suit together. one doesn't over this part goes and the other one don't know where the other part goes. so the gloves if you would give us a glove tooth so you would

not know where to start. >>so when you are up there in space, you know which spot which part that you worked on and you hope that it doesn't fail could i would feel it in my heart if it did. >>he just that i won my pair of gloves is what he had on. >>you have to think about the astronaut as well. you know that would be in your conscious that there was a hole in there or something i remember armstrong would always come in and it would look around and see what we were doing. and talk to us, and we would get him to sign autographs. it was kind of comical. we got a kick out of him. we all wanted to talk to him again. everybody looked at him, and they were saying hi buddy! i love talking to him.

it was really thrilling. [ laughter ] >> i love i would love to go to space. >> no house, no kids. >> i would like to wear our own suit that i made. i could depend on it. [ music ]

>> after body electrodes have been attached to monitor heartbeat and breathing, the first items of clothing are the watercooled underwear and a urine collector. a spacesuit is basically a sealed bag of atmosphere pumped up to counteract the vacuum of space. it might be called a one-man spaceship of the smallest possible dimensions. the pressure suit has to guard against extreme temperatures, hard radiation from the sun and tiny meteorite. yet it must have the flexibility to allow man to function as he would in his natural earth environment. [ music ]

[ music ] >> the back that pack cleans and cools the oxygen and provides radio communication. over the pressure helmet is a clear visor than a gold colored visor to protect

against micro-meteors and solar radiation. the final test was how would the suit work in the silent, weightless world of space? [ music ] [ music ] >> weightless nest on earth can be experienced only underwater on earth. or in an airplane following a supersonic flight path. [ music ]

>> the only true test was in space itself. [ music ] [ music ] >> no up or down, no day or night.

only the slow creeping of the harsh sunlight through the windows as the spacecraft rotates to keep from getting too hot on one side and too cold on the other. they carried with them the biological day of the earthling. three meals, a snack or two, eight hours of sleep. time to work, time to relax, time to reflect. three days falling upward to the moon. look down, looked down. that fragile, bubble of life floats on a sea of nothing. spaceship earth [ music ]

[ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

[ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

[ music ] [ music ] [ music ] [ music ] >> zero, zero, 190. role is your option. pitch 213 357 44 is an a.

delta vt 00 19 or seven. 003 00 152 >> apollo 11, i have the morning news here if you are interested, over. >> we sure are. we are ready to copy. >> okay. first off looks like it is going to be impossible to get away from the fact that you guys are dominating all the news back hereunder. here on earth. even russia is headlining the mission and calls neil those are of the ship. i think maybe they have the

wrong mission. among the large headlines concerning apollo this morning there is one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. sumac hello there. mackin agent legend set a beautiful chinese girl has been living there for 4000 years. it seems she was banished to the moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. you might also look for her companion, a large chinese rabbit who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. the name of the rabbit is not reported. >> okay, we will keep a close eye for the bunny girl. >> in england, an irishman, john coyle, he has one the world porridge eating championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in a

10 minute time limit from a field of 35 other competitors. over. >> he will have to compete against aldrin in an oatmeal eating contest last time. i 19 bowls. back here in houston the mayor is lifting restrictions. >> the big news around houston concerns the astros. the houston astros rallied in the ninth inning of cincinnati to dump the reds 7-4. >> your three wives and children got together for lunch yesterday at the presidents house. according to pat it turned out -- president nixon is planning to use his executive power to use -- later in the week he enthusiastically welcomed the golf match in miami florida. local residents celebrated.

>> air pollution reached critical levels and the senate unanimously backed a policy act to make the safeguarding -- astronauts are not the only explorers in the news. san diego awaits the arrival of sharon adams on her solo crossing of the pacific. seen here leaving yokohama -- in vietnam things are relatively quiet with only a few firefight. 814 men of the third battalion -- gis north of saigon were evacuating villagers. in the mean kong delta south vietnamese forced -- new riots broke out in northern ireland during the celebration marking the 297 anniversary. a protestant victory -- more witnesses in the investigation of student disorders that took place at harvard and other universities last spring. 10,000 harvard students -- registration for the black

panther party registration. -- quakers had gathered for their silent vigil? >> mario andretti takes the lead in the u.s. auto club. -- anti-poverty are taking birth control to the mountains of appalachia. >> space toys are in the tokyo department store. >> in the mideast young jordanian guerrillas train for battle. >> a force of 32 egyptian commandos flipped across the cease-fire. >> from the u.s. defense department 1.5 million operatives -- 00758 plus all

balls plus 000 98 plus correction 00 572 cherokee plus 000 85 00764 030 000 293 986 -00759. >> apollo went into orbit

around the moon. the journey that had taken the lifetime of mankind was nearing its crucial moment. >> apollo 11 houston, we wondered if you started to bring it in? over. >> okay charlie we are in the lab. the docking index mark is the same. >> roger, we copy. >> apollo 11 eagle, over? >> the lunar module eagle was given a checkup to ensure the functioning of all systems as armstrong and aldrin repair to steel themselves off from collins in the command module and for the two graphs to pull apart. >> one, two, three, four, five, five, four, three, two, one. houston out, over. >> okay, it is a go there. controller is going around the

horn and a go for undocking. >> go fido, control, go, ginseng, go. >> capcom we are a go for undocking. >> hello eagle houston we are standing by, over. >> eagle houston, we see you, over. >> the eagle is undocked. >> roger, how does it look? >> the eagle has wings. on its own now it coasted around to the backside of the

moon and their while out of direct communication with the earth it fired its engine to slow its descent to a touchdown on the near side of the moon. collins and columbia continued in orbit awaiting their return. >> gopher landing. retro, go. control, go. ginseng, surgeon, capcom we are gopher landing. >> altitude 4200. >> houston you are good for landing. >> gopher landing, 3000 feet. >> neil, looking great. >> we look good here. >> guidance, you happy? >> go. fido, go. >> 47 degrees, roger. >> still looking very good. you are a go.

>> 1201 alarm. >> we are go, flight. >> we are go. >> altitude 1600. >> eagle looking great. roger 1202, we copy it. 750. 540 feet and 15. 750 feet. altitude, velocity light. 220 feet. coming forward down 200 feet. 4 1/2 down, 5 1/2 down. 100 feet, 3 1/2 down, nine forward. 75 feet. looking good. down a half. six forward. 60 seconds. lights on forward. forward. down 2 1/2.

rain shadow. forward, drifting to the right a little. >> 30 seconds. >> forward. >> contact right. the mac engine stop. >> we copy you down eagle. >> houston, tranquility bay here. the eagle has landed. >> this is apollo control houston at 105 hours down on the flight to apollo 11. our current plan is to have crewmembers aboard the eagle to eat and relax for a little while prior to starting easy a prep. we won't know with certainty until about an hour before the schedule.

[ speaking non-english ] >> and the world waited. july 20 1969. >> it is said that 500 million people gathered at tv sets around the world to wait for the first earthling to set foot on the moon. countless millions more listened on the radio to the voices from the moon. >> this is houston, loud and clear. >> never before had so many people been attuned to one event at one time.

the world waited. curious, wondering, aware. like a sleeper wakened in the night by a faraway sound. a moment sensed more than understood. >> okay, neil, we can see you coming down the ladder now. >> okay, i checked this. heading back up to that first step. it didn't collapse to far but it is adequate to bed get back up. i am at the foot of the letter. the foot beds are only

depressed in the surface about one or two inches although the surface appeared very fine- grained as you get close to it. it is almost like a powder. it is very fine. i'm going to step off. the mac that is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. [ speaking non-english ]

>> that looks beautiful. >> it has a stark beauty all its own. it is like much of the high desert of the united states. it is different but it is very pretty out here. >> are you getting a picture now, houston? >> yes, we are getting a tv picture. you are in our field of view now. >> is it okay for me to come out? >> all set.

>> it is a very simple matter to hop down from one step to the next. >> you have three more steps and a long one. >> i can leave that one foot up there and both hands down about the fourth run up. >> i think i will do the same thing. a little more. about another inch. have you got it? >> that is a good step. >> beautiful view. >> isn't that something? magnificent out here. >> magnificent desolation. >> isn't this fun? >> i knew my family might see some corporal rocks. >> find a purple rock.

small sparkling fragments. >> okay, houston i'm going to change lenses on you. >> roger, neil. >> you are going too fast on the panorama sweep. you're going to have to stop. >> i haven't set it down yet. that is the first picture in the panorama. >> okay, i'm going to move it. tell me if you got a picture houston? >> we have a beautiful picture neil. >> okay, we got that one. >> okay, here is another good one. >> for a final orientation we would like you to come west about five degrees, over?

>> okay. >> okay, that looks good there, neil. >> buzz is erecting the solar wind experiment now. >> every precious minute of their 2 1/2 hours on the surface was programmed. rock and soil samples were to be collected. photographs taken. experiment set up to catch unfiltered particles from the sun to record milt?, to measure precisely by laser beam reflection the exact distance between moon and earth. >> columbia, this is houston, over? >> houston, over. >> roger, the eva is progressing beautifully. i bet you are the only person around it doesn't have tv coverage. >> that's all right, i don't

mind a bit. >> they have the flag up now and you can see the stars and stripes. >> beautiful. just beautiful. >> it is beautiful, it really is. >> i would like to evaluate the surface. you do have to be rather careful to keep track of where your center of mass is. it takes about two or three paces to make sure you have your feet underneath you. >> in about two or three or four easy paces can bring you to a smooth stop.

you just have to put out to the side and cut a little bit. a kangaroo hop does work. but it seems your forward mobility is not quite as good. could get rather tiring after several hundred. this may be a function of the suit. >> in the soft spots we have footprints nearly an inch deep but the soil is very cohesive. it will retain a slope of 70 degrees. >> buzz is making his way around the land photographing it from various angles looking at its condition on all sides.

>> there are two craters. the one that is right in front of me now and i look off in the 7:00 position from the spacecraft. about 30 two 35 feet. >> roger. the mac in the foreground buzz aldrin is collecting a corp tube sample. >> i hope you were watching how hard i have to hit this in the ground. to a tune of about five inches houston. >> roger. >> it almost looks wet.

the mac buzz, this is houston. you have about 10 minutes left now prior to commencing your eva termination activities. over. >> roger, i understand. >> i can't get over it. it is a miracle. >> we are really thrilled. the mac this has to be the proudest day of our lives. and for people all over the world. >> it means a lot to all the countries, not just america. >> being closer to the moon makes us realize we are all human beings together. >> i hope this brings unity among all countries. >> from eternal problems you all have, >> i think it is a lot of a

waste of the money that you could use for something else. >> this huge amount of money americans spend to see how the moon is live, what is wrong? >> it is disgusting. it is a pity they don't have something else to do. it would be better if they had done something else. >> what if columbus decided he couldn't get the money from isabella, where would be be? >> he put it in the sky for the purpose. he didn't put it up there for people to clutter up. he mac i'm interested to see what is up there. >> we must open all secrets to us throughout the ages. >> i think the dream of man from the beginning of the human race is coming now. >> alone, 45 miles above the moon's surface, michael collins completed an orbit every two hours.

he listened to the progress on the moon walk and awaited the moment when his companions on the surface would lift off to rendezvous with him. for 30 times he saw the earth rise over the horizon of the moon. 12,000 miles of twilight, the line that divides night from day for 3 billion people on the ship earth. it is good to see the whole earth, to see the earth whole.

[ music ] [ music ]

>> the eagle had left the moon and returned to columbia. [ music ] within this strange ship, two astronauts and a treasure, triple sealed vacuum boxes of rocks and soil from the surface of the moon.

within these rocks were secrets of the ages to be studied and deciphered by the scientists of earth. the age of the moon. the age of the sun. how the moon was formed. how life began. was there ever life on the moon? was the moon once molten and volcanic or has it always been cold and dead? was it once part of the earth? or was it a wandering planet captured by the earth eons ago.

how hot was the sun 3 billion years ago? >> armstrong and aldrin with their precious load of moon rocks had transferred to columbia. the faithful eagle its task

completed could be cut adrift. columbia fired out of lunar orbit to begin its three-day fall back to earth where the recovery fleet was waiting for its splashdown in the pacific. >> apollo 11 recovery information for us, over. >> go ahead. >> the hornet is on station just far enough off the target point to keep from getting hit. recovery one. >> july 24 the hornet was on station and the president of the united states was aboard.

reentry into the earth invisible atmosphere carries with it one of the most critical moments. traveling nearly 25,000 miles per hour, the command module can miss the angle of reentry by only several degrees and disintegrate into flames or bounce off into never to return. >> velocity 33,000 feet per second. >> 35,000 feet per second now. >> 36,000 feet per second. we are at entry time. >> there's blackout.

>> apollo 11, houston arrival. he mac apollo 11, houston arrived. >> hornick reported a sonic

boom a short time ago. he mac apollo 11 houston, there is contact. >> apollo 11, houston to arrive standing by. over. >> apollo 11, this is hornet. he mac apollo 11 read you loud and clear. 130, 6915. 11 hornet copy 13301675. over. >> three, 30. nine, 15.

[ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

[ music ]

[ music ] >> what was it we were really celebrating? three men who had done what no man before had done? a technological feet was believed to be on the realm of possibility? >> the fulfillment of an age- old dream? were we celebrating simply because it had been a long time since we had anything to celebrate? or, was this something that touched an ear rational unthinking instinct in the fall. in us all.

[ music ] [ music ] [ music ] [ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

>> going to take a trip goodbye mother. goodbye mother, so long mother. so long mother. goodbye mother, goodbye mother earth.

>> the treasure of the ages,

stones from across the night. on rubbed by wind. unwashed by rain. scattered on tranquility.

bombarded by solar particles from billions of years that unchanged in any other way, a moon rock is like a diary of the sun. and i unblinking since time began. it stared across the sea of space that watched the blue planet when life began. [ music ]

>> remembered in these rocks are ancient sunspots, solar flares, solar storms whose fiery arms reached out 1 million miles.

>> by making ourselves very small like alice, perhaps we will see what these rocks have seen and remember back those billions of years to decipher the life of the sun. [ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

>> locked within our sun are answers to mysteries that have confounded man since time began. we have reached out with our telescopes we have reached in with our microscopes. seeking what is the source of life. what combination of energies

and elements brought it into existence? what is the relationship between the nonliving and living things? how delicate is the balance? man slowly begins to realize how fragile is his bubble of life. ours is one sun in a sea of sons more plentiful than all the grains of sand on all the chores of all the seeds of planet earth.

>> now that we are free to wander from earth, perhaps we will find the answers to our questions. >> someday we may know where we have come from. where we are going. we may know where is the end where is the beginning.

>> we have walked on the moon. we open our minds to the universe. [ music ]

>> all week we are featuring

american history tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on c- span 3. lectures and history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. enjoy american history tv now and every weekend on c-span 3. >> weeknights this month we are featuring american history tv on c-span 3. on thursday night more from the 50th anniversary of the 1959 moon landing. aldrin and former nasa admin on the apollo programs impact as well as on today's politics, diplomacy, and spatial initiatives. you can watch it thursday night starting at eight eastern on c-span 3. enjoy american history tv this week and every weekend on c-span 3.

the first africans to land in north america would arrive here in 1619 and that would begin an amazing experience in the development of the united states. >> saturday official american history tv washington journal feature as we look back to the first arrival of africans to america. 400 years ago at point comfort historic fort monroe virginia. at 8:30 am eastern we are live with norfolk state university history professor, cassondra alexander newby for the history and origins of slavery in america. at 930 live coverage of the commemorative ceremony with speeches by government officials including senator mark warner, senator tim kaine, governor ralph northam, and justin fairfax. the history of africans in america from fort monroe live