space is such a challenge. ♪ >> i am james michener. for most of my working years on this planet, i've been chronicling the rise and fall of human systems. if there is one thing i'm convinced of from years of studying history, it's that enemies do not destroy nations, time and the loss of will brings them down. to see that this does not happen to this nation of ours, the united states cannot retreat from the challenge of our age. each era of human history progresses to a point at which it is eligible to wrestle with the great problem of that period . for the ancient greeks, it was the organization of society. for the medievalists, the spelling out of their relationship to god. for the men of the 15th and centuries, the mastery of the 16th oceans. and for us, it is the determination of how mankind can live in harmony on the finite globe we call earth while , establishing relationships to an infinite space. >> ok. we are ready. final pressure adjustment. james: i am struck with wonder at the energy being expended by thousands of people no