SPACE RACE: Fifty years ago, Bradfordians joined the world in watching the heavens as the human race stretched its Earth-given limits by setting foot on the moon.

In the days leading up to the world-changing event, it was a favorite topic of conversation.

As a ’Round the Square column, published July 10, 1969, stated, “The moon, which has always had a certain fascination for us earthlings, is really coming into its own these days when two astronauts look forward actually to setting foot on the distant planet while a third hovers above them.

“Just about everybody is talking and thinking about the moon and its visitors these days,” the column read.

For The Era’s part, the newspaper put together a souvenir book titled “Footprints on the Moon.” The book was to be a 224-page, clothbound volume detailing how America won the race to the moon.

“The book, an Era-Associated Press project, will contain more than 100 of the most dramatic color photos ever taken. With these pictures will be a 70,000-word text by John Barbour, an AP space specialist,” The Era stated. This was less than two weeks before the moonwalk.

“John Barbour is working on a big 224-page volume, a cloth-bound report on the inside of how America won its race to the moon — the story of the men who died and the other men who labored long and hard to make man’s greatest enterprise succeed,” The Era reported.

At WESB, John Calure had a contest going with listeners inviting them to submit their opinion of what the first words spoken by a man on the surface of the moon would be.

On July 16, 1969 — the day the three astronauts left Earth for their journey — ’Round the Square said this of the event: “The eyes and ears of the world are turned toward the Apollo 11 Flight today just as the prayers of millions of well wishers ascend in behalf of the dauntless trio enroute to the Moon.”