How the first moon landing was saved. The story of the people who made Apollo 11 happen

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Don't expect a huge structure like the International Space Station.

In a year when we’ll celebrate Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary, it’s worth remembering the pathfinders who completed the same mission with one critical order: don’t actually land on the moon. //

But Snoopy didn’t have enough fuel to land on the moon and then blast off again. According to Craig Nelson, author of the book “Rocket Men,” Cernan speculated that the lander’s ascent module had been short-fueled on purpose: “A lot of people thought about the kind of people we were: ‘Don’t give those guys an opportunity to land, ‘cause they might!’”

Mission control might never have witnessed Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon if it weren't for the vision of men like Eugene Shoemaker

On the Moon right now, there lies an aluminium sculpture of an astronaut with a beautiful message.

Here are the times they could have died in space.