An era from start to finish

Arthur Kerndt is a retired carpenter in Reno, Nevada.

"Probably the greatest accomplishment that this nation has ever achieved has been the moon landings. I took off work, called in sick, just so I could watch all of the moon landings. It was absolutely phenomenal that a team of engineers and scientists could get together and put together a plan — Kennedy's plan — to go to the moon ... and come back safely."

The first Americans arrived on the moon on the evening of 20 July 1969 in America, or the early hours of 21 July 1969 in Europe. This year, 21 July marks the end of a much longer programme of space travel: the 30-year use of the NASA space shuttle. When the final mission, STS-135, lands, the United States will have no means of taking humans into orbit. The US will book seats on Russian spacecraft until the next generation of American spacecraft is ready. It could be several years until that happens.