AUSTIN, Texas – Veteran newsman Walter Cronkite was honored Tuesday with a moon rock from NASA in recognition of his decades covering the space program.
Cronkite, who anchored the CBS Evening News from 1962 until his retirement in 1981, is the first nonastronaut and the only non-NASA individual to receive the Ambassador of Exploration Award.
Cronkite covered the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, including Apollo 11 and subsequent moon landings. His marathon live coverage of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969, brought the event into the homes of millions of Americans and observers around the world.
The award also was presented to 38 other people around the nation.
The moon rock is part of 842 pounds of samples brought back to Earth during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972.
Cronkite will present his lunar sample to William Powers Jr., president of the University of Texas at Austin.
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