Hymn to Apollo
You\u2019re listening to the Palestrina Choir on a Victor 78 from 1927
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\nAnd, you\u2019re on the Sound Beat!
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\nThe choir is singing the Hymn to Apollo, one of the Homeric hymns: a collection of thirty-three anonymous\xa0ancient Greek\xa0hymns celebrating individual gods. It\u2019s thought to have been written in 522 BC. Apollo is the son of Zeus, God of the Sun and light. His name was selected for NASA\u2019s third spaceflight program by then manager Abe Silverstein because "Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program."
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\nGrand scale indeed, incorporating President John Kennedy\u2019s stated goal of \u201c"landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth". And though he would never see it, six Apollo missions would land\xa0astronauts\xa0on the Moon, with twelve men walking on the lunar surface. And every one of them returning home safely.