[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 5,4,3,2,1, everyone likes a good countdown! For those of us old enough to have experienced the grainy television images associated with the Apollo program, few countdowns surpassed the excitement and anticipation associated with three men strapped at the apex of a massive rocket, set, we hoped, to launch them on new adventures in outer space. Few, however, felt the excitement and tension as often as Air Force Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Program Manager for the Minuteman Missile Program, and later Program Director for NASA's Apollo Program through the Moon landing. Preparing for countdowns dominated his career for over a decade.
