Not that long ago, this was our view of space and space travel.

Even TV capitalized on the space bug. In the "I Dream of Jeannie" TV pilot, astronaut Captain Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) returns from a space flight in his one-man capsule "Stardust One", but landing far from the planned recovery area and on a deserted island. After discovering a bottle and rubbing it after removing the stoppper, a beautiful Persian-speaking female genie materializes. Love at first sight, Jeannie (a homophone of genie), grants a few wishes including being rescued and Nelson's wish for her to speak English. The rest is history as the show went on for five seasons.

The early days of the Apollo program suffered a tragic setback when a fire swept through the Apollo 1 Command Module during a launch rehearsal test, tragically killing the three astronauts trapped inside - Astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom (left), Ed White (middle), and Roger Chaffee (right). Less than three years after the January 27, 1967 disaster, Apollo 11 landed on the moon (July 20, 1969).

Apparentlly, I've been a space geek since the early 60s as evident of my treasured letter seen here dated 1965. What I don't remember is getting any other information sent to me as indicated in the letter. Who can I ask?

The five muscles of the Saturn V that lifted man into space and launched humans to the moon. At a length of 363 feet long, 60 feet in diameter, the five engines generated 160 million horsepower. Thirteen Saturn V rockets were launched between 1967 and 1972.

Saturn V's second stage rockets.

Neil Armstrong: "Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed." One of the historic magazine front covers from my collection.

A life-sized scene from the Apollo 11 Moon landing, including the "real" Lunar Module 9 in the background.

A chance to touch a moon rock. No big deal. The rock was only taken from the surface of another planetary-mass object 238,600 miles away!!!

Apollo 14 "Kitty Hawk" Command Module.

Lunar Sample 70035.40.020 taken during the Apollo 17 mission (December 7-19, 1972). This was the final Apollo mission.