Curated playlist
Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal
- 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.
- Gene CernanGene Cernan wrote his daughter's initials in the lunar dust before leaving the Moon. He was the last person there.
- Dwight D. EisenhowerEisenhower wrote a note taking all blame if D-Day failed. He drafted it on the eve of the June 1944 landings.
- Jim MattisJim Mattis, the retired Marine general who became the 26th United States secretary of defense, once corrected a president-elect about his own nickname. Donald Trump asked whether he was really called Mad Dog. Mattis replied, "No, sir," and…
- Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
- Thomas EdisonThomas Edison clamped his teeth into a piano to hear it. He was deaf in one ear and barely heard from the other.
- Brad Cooper (admiral)Admiral Brad Cooper wrote a letter to U.S. troops in the Middle East, telling them they would "change the course of human history." On the 28th of February 2026, on the order of President Donald Trump, he began the American airstrikes on…
- John Young (astronaut)John Young walked on the Moon and later commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. He is the only person to do both.
- Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
- Douglas MacArthurDouglas MacArthur came up with his own field marshal title. Philippine President Quezon conferred it in 1936.
- Alan BeanAlan Bean walked on the Moon, then quit NASA to paint it. He pressed Moon dust from his suit patches into canvases.
- Edgar MitchellApollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell had a spiritual awakening on his way home from the Moon.
- Walter Bedell SmithWalter Bedell Smith signed Italy's armistice under an olive tree in Sicily. It was September 3, 1943.
- Ronald Evans (astronaut)Ronald Evans is the last person to orbit the Moon alone. He circled it 75 times while two crewmates walked below.
- Richard E. ByrdRichard E. Byrd, an American naval officer, spent 13 minutes circling a patch of Arctic sky on the 9th of May 1926. Then he turned for home. By his own account, he had just reached the North Pole. The round trip took 15 hours and 57…