NASA's 'Voice of Apollo,' Jack King, dies at age 84

Jack King, who counted down NASA's historic launch of Apollo 11, died on Thursday at age 84, The Associated Press reports.

"Twelve, 11, 10, 9, ignition sequence start. Six, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero, all engine (sic) running. Liftoff! We have a liftoff, 32 minutes past the hour. Liftoff on Apollo 11," King announced on July 16, 1969.

A public affairs official with NASA, King counted down hundreds of other rocket launches. His wide-ranging career included stops at Houston's Johnson Space Center — where he helped facilitate the first live television coverage of a joint U.S.-Soviet flight, in 1975 — and later Washington, D.C. to act as director of public relations for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But King's best-remembered media moment remains his fact-based, measured countdown of the Apollo 11 launch — he told AP in 2009, "I wish I had a penny for every time it was used."

Below, enjoy the iconic announcement once more. Sarah Eberspacher