way to the Moon I kept repeating to myself: There they go, there they go, and all the time they were really going.
And going further and further into unimaginable space, and with every tick of the clock getting nearer to the Moon - nearer and nearer.
But I couldn't visualize them as getting there, nor as coming back. I couldn't believe they would ever come back. I couldn't even visualize them coming back alive.
For a minute or two I was dazed. Then I remembered what was happening, and I thought: Well, they've gone, and that's that. And I'm glad they went. I'm glad they went on for science, and gladder still that they're coming back safe and sound.
So that was that, and I settled down to watch the live news, and wait for the splashdown.
Alison Francis broke the silence: "We shall be listening in on the Moon in 15 minutes."
Original dispatch: From blast off to splashdown: My days following Nasa's historic mission to the Moon