Apollo XI lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Here are Mike Collins' pre-launch thoughts:

I am far from certain that we will be able to fly the mission as planned. I think we will escape with our skins, or at least I will escape with mine, but I wouldn't give better than even odds on a successful landing and return. Fred Haise (the backup astronaut who had performed the pre-launch CM switch positions) has run through a checklist 417 steps long, and I have merely a half-dozen minor chores to take care of--- nickel and dime stuff. In between switch throws, I have plenty of time to think, if not daydream. Here I am, a white male, age 38, height 5 feet 11 inches, weight 165 pounds, salary $17,000 per annum, resident of a Texas suburb, with black spot on my roses, state of mind unsettled, about to be shot off to the moon. Yes, to the moon.

My college - No - I mean my pre-school was 90 miles away from the Cape and on a clear day in 1972 I caught a glimps of apollo 15 going up! Mom had taken me on a tour of the space center only like a week before. I do a lot of things in life that interest me, but following space is one of the the very few things I actually can feel in my heart center. There was just something about that time and place!

Historically, I don't think there is any point about the effort that would not interest me. Hey if there were 417 steps to set the switches, I'd watch a four hour documentary on that alone! Every srcrew turned in the construction of the hardware would be an event worth witnessing and recording first hand!

Michael Collins' book Carrying The Fire is, I think, the best astronaut memoir. Very readable, thoughtful and entertaining...

I've often wondered why a more volvoesque approach has not been taken to the space program. We've built Apollo/Saturn V rockets for lunar activities and Space Shuttles for orbital activities. Why haven't those designs essentially been duplicated making the appropriate changes as needs and events require?

Volvo has had the 240-line of cars for 30 years or so. Each year, they fix a few parts, improve production costs, improve safety, and continue with the next years car.

Recently, advances in materials has allowed for lighter composites for lighter parts. Smarter engines. Smaller computers for navigation. Calmer political climate for Russian titanium. Better engines, and so on.

With shortened R&D cycles, consistent production lines, planned vehicle replacement, and the like, I can't imagine that 10-use shuttles and single use lunar vehicles couldn't be manufactured like 747's off the assembly line.

Why isn't design experience more literally reused?

The biggest difference between the automobile and space industries is the scale. We simply haven't wanted to do enough in space to do it sensibly, and program decisions tend to be driven by politics, rather than cost.