Apollo's Moon Shot

Americans are shocked when the Space Race begins with the launch of Russia's Sputnik; NASA launches its first astronauts, and President John F. Kennedy raises the stakes, promising to put Americans on the Moon.

The two-person Gemini missions teach American astronauts to walk in space, but tragedy strikes the first manned Apollo mission when a capsule catches fire, revealing the true cost of space flight.

Three critical Apollo missions in 1968 and 1969 put NASA back on track to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.

The historic Apollo 11 mission, as told through rare archival footage, astronaut interviews and artifacts on display at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The world celebrates the first Moon landing in July 1969, and President Richard Nixon rides the wave of global enthusiasm to achieve foreign policy goals; NASA's brightest minds set their sights on a new target: cutting-edge science.

A look at the final Apollo missions and the impact they had on science and future space explorations.