Walter Cronkite 'told the story of space'
— -- A fan of the future, Walter Cronkite relished the adventure of space exploration, say astronauts, scientists and historians, marking his passing just three days before the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
One of the most famous moments in the storied career of Cronkite, 92, who died Friday, came with the Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969.
"Wally, say something, I'm speechless," said the CBS anchorman to his landing co-host, astronaut Wally Schirra, dropping his glasses and famous composure, to rub his face after the tense final moments of the landing. ("If Cronkite doesn't know what to say, don't expect me to do any better," vice president Spiro Agnew later told interviewers.)
"Poignant from my perspective, I wish he had lived to see the 40th anniversary," says space historian Roger Launius of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "Walter Cronkite certainly identified himself not just as an observer, but as something of an advocate for the moon landings."
"He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed," astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, said in a NASA statement.
"Walter Cronkite was not just the television voice of the U.S. space program during the 1960s. To those of us who lived through that time, he was as much a part of the space effort as the astronauts and the engineers," says long-time space analyst John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University.
"He told the story of space in ways that spoke directly to us; there was no hiding behind opaque technical jargon. When he was excited, we were excited, " Logsdon says. "When he asked a question, it was one that we had in mind. In many ways, he was the public's representative to America's space program,"
Cronkite's death marks the beginning of the passing of the "Apollo Generation," confident in the future and technology, Launius says.
Related Stories
ABC News Live