STS-122 Atlantis on the launch pad at night, December 2007

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the first moon landing on this day in 1969 brings back memories of one of my favorite topics as a reporter in the US: NASA’s Space Shuttle program. I was fortunate enough to visit the astronaut training site in Houston, Texas, as well as the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meet many astronauts, and watch the final mission take off.