Nearly 50 years have passed since images of Americans heading to the moon were captured- proud moments for many Americans, especially those who protected the country to make it happen.
[Ads /]
Eddie Tardy served in Vietnam. When he learned about Monday's launch, he wanted to get there.
"I felt the B-52s," Tardy explained. "If you multiply this 50 times, that's what I'm imaging it's going to be like."
Wisdom 4 Blinded Veterans selected a handful of visually impaired vets to be there. Tardy was selected.
This weekend, he traveled from Houston to Florida.
"I'm excited," Tardy said. "I can't wait to hear, see, and feel what's going to happen."
[Ads /]
NASA expects 250,000 to be at Monday's launch. The window opens around 7:30 a.m. Houston time. Employees from many aerospace companies from the Houston area will be there, including Lockheed Martin Orion deputy project manager Tony Byers and MRI Technologies executive vice president Tim Kropp.
"I never thought we'd be here," Kropp said. "I thought, 'Oh gosh. We're never going to get here. It's not going to be in my career.' I'm so excited that it is in my career, and I get to watch it."
"We've been working this for many years," Byers said. "So to be here and be ready and be this close to bringing Americans back to the moon, I'm going to be happy."
Both of them worked on the spacecraft that'll be sitting on top of the rocket, known as Orion. Lockheed Martin led the project right here in Houston.
"Avionics, software, hardware, the structures, the volume," Byers explained. "Everything you touch in the spacecraft, Houston has its fingerprints on."
[Ads /]
To make it happen, Lockheed Martin worked with small companies, including MRI Technologies in Houston. After nearly two decades of work, employees can't wait to watch the launch to see their hard work pay off.
"It is accumulation of so many nights where you're working late, and you're missing something here, or a kid thing there, and you're saying 'this is worth it,'" Kropp explained.
Fifty years of waiting are set to end Monday. A return that wouldn't have been possible without Space City.
"Every time we fly these missions, I want Houstonians to feel like it's their spacecraft," Byers said. "They're responsible for returning Americans to the moon and beyond."
For updates on this story, follow Nick Natario on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.