RUSSELL SCHWEICKART

Then → Russell “Rusty” Schweickart was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 9, March 3 to March 13, 1969, the first flight of the lunar module.

Now → Schweickart is chair emeritus of the B612 Foundation, an organization dedicated to defending Earth from asteroid impacts, which he co-founded with other astronauts. He lives in California.

Goodwill Tour. (Though, Moscow was not one of the 24 cities).

The last moon landing was on December 11, 1972. Even then, attention had drifted away from the miracle of it, and only true space buffs can recite the names of the last men to walk on the moon—Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan. By then, the Watergate scandal that would bring down President Nixon was unravelling. The Vietnam War was de-escalating, with America headed for a devastating loss. The decline of American exceptionalism was, perhaps, already beginning.

The fiftieth anniversary of the first human moon-landing is a good time to take stock of what has changed on Earth and in America since July 1969. We feature, in our first story, interviews with four astronauts in the Apollo program, which is followed (page 32) by a stunning photo essay that spans the history of space exploration from its early days to our fascination with discovering the planet Mars. We also profile an entrepreneur looking to “back up” all of mankind’s knowledge by storing it on the Moon, among other places in our solar system (page 30).

As for our main act, Newsweek in March caught up with the lunar astronauts at the Explorers’ Club dinner in New York City. The group included eight lunar astronauts from Apollo 7 to Apollo 17, (including Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon).

Spry senior citizens now, the men ambled about the Marriott Hotel in Times Square, trailed by network producers and fans seeking selfies and autographs, and reminisced about their voyages. In one panel discussion, Aldrin recounted how the moon lander had an electrical problem that he solved with a felt-tip pen he just happened to have brought with him to the moon. Michael Collins, who stayed in the command module above while Aldrin and Armstrong were on the moon, revealed that he was more worried about whether the white mice they would be quarantined with after their return to Earth would die of some hitherto unknown moon disease than he was about the safety of the space crafts.

Afterwards, Newsweek interviewed Charlie Duke, Michael Collins, Al Worden and Russell Schweickart. Edited excerpts: →