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Curated playlist

Collier Trophy recipients

  • Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
  • Jim LovellJim Lovell flew to the Moon twice and never set foot on it. His second trip, Apollo 13, nearly ended in disaster.
  • NASAAt Apollo's peak, an estimated 5% of all Americans worked on it. NASA itself was barely a decade old.
  • Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Years later he was selling used cars.
  • Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
  • Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong's astronaut application came about a week late, until a colleague slipped it into the pile.
  • Frank BormanA stranger's telegram told Apollo 8's Frank Borman, "You saved 1968." He commanded the first crew to orbit the Moon.
  • David ScottDavid Scott dropped a hammer and a feather on the Moon. The Apollo 15 commander did it on live television.
  • Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
  • IBMIBM began in 1911 as a merger of four companies, including a meat slicer maker.
  • Michael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins orbited the Moon thirty times and never set foot on it.
  • Robert R. GilruthWhen Kennedy promised a Moon landing, Robert Gilruth was aghast.
  • DARPATechnology research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Defense
  • Blue OriginBlue Origin sent its own founder, Jeff Bezos, across the edge of space on the 20th of July 2021. The flight, called NS-16, lasted about ten minutes and crossed the Kármán line, the conventional boundary of space, 100 km above sea level.…
  • Alan BeanAlan Bean walked on the Moon, then quit NASA to paint it. He pressed Moon dust from his suit patches into canvases.
  • Deke SlaytonOne heart test grounded astronaut Deke Slayton in 1962. He then picked the crews who flew to the Moon.
  • James IrwinAfter walking on the Moon, astronaut James Irwin spent years searching for Noah's Ark.
  • William AndersWilliam Anders fled Japanese bombers as a boy, then photographed Earth from the Moon.
  • James E. WebbJames Webb left NASA on his 62nd birthday, days before Apollo's first crewed flight. He had run it since 1961.
  • United States Air ForceThe U.S. Air Force began with Civil War reconnaissance balloons. Now it controls 49% of the American nuclear arsenal.

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