KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- Just after midnight on July 16, 1969, Jack King kissed his wife goodbye at their Cocoa Beach, Florida home, jumped in his car, and drove to Dunkin' Donuts for a doughnut and a cup of coffee.



Jack King became the voice of the Apollo 11 launch. "It was quite a thrilling time," he says.



It was the start of a big day: the launch of a Saturn V rocket, lifting man from the face of the Earth to the face of the moon. King, the chief of public information at Kennedy Space Center, would become known that day as the voice of Apollo 11.



In the wee hours of the morning, he followed his launch-day routine. But as he headed across the causeway to the space center, King lost sight of the lagoon he normally passed -- the view obstructed by RVs and trailers that had secured their spots for a view of the moon launch.



"The town was very much alive; the vibrancy was entirely different. Three-quarters of a million people had come into the area to view the launch, so it was quite a thrilling time," says King, now 78.



"When I'd cross the bridge over the Banana River heading to the Space Center, I'd pull off onto the side of the road, get out of the car, and there was the Saturn V, bathed in the floodlights, just glowing."  Hear the voice of King, watch as Apollo took off for moon »



"It was a just a very impressive, majestic rocket."



Launch manager Paul Donnelly recalls, "We launched at 9:32 that morning." He reported for work the night before to oversee the hazardous and delicate operation of fueling the three-stage rocket. "Everything on Apollo 11 went just beautiful, no real problems."



He says he always told the astronauts, "The launch crew wishes you good luck and Godspeed." As the hatch closed that day, he says he was thinking, "Go! Go! Go! Let's do it."  See the men who've walked the moon »



Forty years after America's launch of Apollo 11, the U.S. space program is at a different crossroads, challenged in recent years to return to the moon and to recapture the ambition that launched the space race in 1961. Back then, a dazzled nation heard the big dreams of a youthful Ivy League-educated, senator-turned president.



"I believe," President John F. Kennedy told Congress, "that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."



That was the same year Barack Obama was born. Forty-eight years later, Obama, a similarly youthful Ivy League-educated former senator, is now in charge, and the nation wonders what his vision is for the U.S. space program.  Watch Buzz Aldrin: U.S. should go to Mars »



Donnelly, now 86, says he recalls the launch of Apollo 11 as if it were yesterday. He also says he believes President Obama could re-energize the space program.



Donnelly believed the moon mission would ultimately come to pass, even after Kennedy had been assassinated. "It didn't distract me or the people here," Donnelly said referring to the launch team.



The pressure was on for the United States to get to that fateful launch day, especially given the intense competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. "It was a missile race before it was a space race," said King, a former reporter for The Associated Press.



By the time Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961, the Russians had already flown two cosmonauts. The Russians, backed by Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev, were also working with a much more powerful rocket.



"The challenges were tremendous. Khruschev appeared at the U.N., slammed his shoe and said -- 'We're going to bury you,'
Who says "It was quite a thrilling time"? How long ago did Apollo 11 take off for the moon? What did Jack King say? Who is the voice of Mission Control?
Jack King Forty years "It was quite a thrilling time," Jack King
question: Who says "It was quite a thrilling time"?, answer: Jack King | question: How long ago did Apollo 11 take off for the moon?, answer: Forty years | question: What did Jack King say?, answer: "It was quite a thrilling time," | question: Who is the voice of Mission Control?, answer: Jack King