Special! The Moon ( 1969 )

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Neil Armstrong took those famous first steps upon the lunar surface for all of mankind on July 21, 1969. It was an unprecedented achievement that took years of research and experiments. It also took ten prior Apollo missions to make that eleventh project successful. 

This 3-minute British Pathe newsreel shows some fascinating footage onboard the Apollo 10 lunar module. The three astronauts - Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan - could have become equally as famous as Neil Armstong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins of the Apollo 11 project, had they been chosen for that mission. Instead, they were aboard the Apollo 10 undertaking a mission that was vital to the success of the Apollo 11: a dress rehearsal. Their job was to do the entire Apollo 11 mission - just without landing - to make sure everything went well. Or as the announcer puts it:

"It was their task to prepare the way, to knock on the door of our neighbor but not to cross the threshold."

This task they successfully accomplished and within two short months of Apollo 10's rendezvous with the moon, the Apollo 11 mission was given the go-ahead and launched on July 16, 1969.

Ready to watch Special! The Moon? Simply click here. 

Other similar British Pathé clips:

Another Step Towards Moon ( 1965 ) : 1:05 min.

Eagle Leaves the Moon ( 1969 ) - 2:05 min.

Man on the Moon ( 1969 ) - 6:29 min.