Space travel has never been billed (31) a first-class
affair, but back in 1939 it was deemed downright uncivilized in the February 20,
1939, issue of TIME. The article summarized the British Interplanetary Society’s
prediction of (32) astronauts would forgo on their
(33) to the moon. Topping the list: smoking and water for
washing-and there would be just enough coffee to keep the navigators from"
(34) asleep over their interminable calculations." By
1951 space (35) plans had become more grandiose. Famed
rocket scientist Wernher von Braun predicted (36) a
successful Mars (37) could be accomplished with
(38) few as 46 rockets in a round trip that would take three
years, in a later (39) with TIME, yon Braun affirmed. "Man
belongs (40) he wants to go-and he’ll do plenty well when he
gets there." With the (41) War heating up, the space
(42) became an historic rivalry between United States and
the Soviets. TIME heralded the (43) seven Mercury astronauts
as men of destiny. Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin (44) TIME’s
cover (45) he became the first human in space on April 12,
1961, but the article (46) described the event in heroic
terms also lamented the U. S. S.R. triumph as an American propaganda defeat.
(47) than a year later when John Glenn’s flight put America
back in the space race, TIME lauded Friendship 7’s success as a triumph for the
entire free world. In 1969 TiME covered the culmination of the Apollo
program (48) a special package, "To the Moon," calling the
(49) flight "the most momentous journey since 1492." The
next week’s issue featured a cover story celebrating Neil Armstrong’s "giant
leap for mankind," asserting that the success of the mission was "a shining
reaffirmation of the optimistic premise that (50) man
imagines he can bring to pass."