BY DAN RATHER AND TEAM STEADY
Credit: Getty Images
July 20, 1969, was a momentous day for our nation and the world. Fifty-seven years ago this week, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong accomplished the extraordinary; they landed on the moon. After spending 21 hours on the lunar surface, the Apollo 11 astronauts successfully returned home.
I had the good fortune to be at the launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The prevailing feeling among the people there, and around the country, was one of hope and celebration, of accomplishment.
President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 remarks about the space program remind us why America chooses to do the hard things.
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
Though it was written 15 years before Apollo 11 ever left the launch pad, the song “Fly Me To The Moon” became the mission’s unofficial anthem.
Kaye Ballard originally recorded Bart Howard’s cabaret ballad in 1954. Then Frank Sinatra made it his own. The simplicity of the lyrics, the catchiness of the melody, along with Sinatra’s signature swing, made the song a hit. Sinatra’s version played as Apollo 10 orbited the moon and when Apollo 11 landed.
While Sinatra’s version is the gold standard and the one you have likely heard, we decided to go with acclaimed Canadian singer and pianist Diana Krall’s jazzy take. It is a true delight.
Krall reprised the song for NASA’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. She also sang it at Armstrong’s memorial service in 2012.
NYA Thanks Dan Rather and Team Steady!