Many call Neosho 'The Flowerbox City" but it was also once known as Spacetown USA.

Fifty years ago this week, the world watched as Apollo 11 blasted off into space and delivered three men to the moon, making history. An estimated billion people around the world watched.

In Neosho, pride mingled with awe because Rocketdyne Neosho had a crucial role in getting that mission off the ground, literally.

Rocketdyne designed and developed the F-1 engine. Components of the engine, which propelled Apollo 11 to the moon, were made in Neosho. The Neosho location built and tested engines for the Redstone, Jupiter, Thor and Atlas missiles, served as the primary manufacturing installation for the Saturn H-1 engine, and produced components for the Saturn J-2 and F-1 engines that launched the Apollo spacecraft that eventually landed men on the moon.

Gene Andrews, now 89, of Neosho watched the launch earlier this week as it replayed on television.

"I can't even talk about it," Andrews said with obvious emotion. "I sat here with tears in my eyes. So exciting. I remember we didn't leave the television (in 1969). It was so exciting to me."

His daughter, Karen Dobbs, recalled that the entire family got up and watched in their pajamas. Many Americans had the same experience.

Andrews was a research engineer for Rocketdyne and his first job with the company was as a test engineer.

"It was a unique job. It was exciting to think you would test the components, it always kept me on my toes," he recalled.

Another Neosho man, 87-year old Glenn Kirby, also worked at Rocketdyne. Kirby was a lead man in instrumentation.

"It was quite a deal," he said. "It was a long time ago."

Kirby recalled what happened at Rocketdyne each time that a rocket launched with an engine with components made in Neosho.

"They would shut down," he said. "It would come over the PA system and everything would cease. We could hear the countdown and liftoff. When we listened to that, it gave us goosebumps, that we had a hand in it."

Groundbreaking for the plant took place on April 21, 1956. It was first planned as a rocket engine plant to be built for the United States Air Force but in June, 1956, it was announced that it had become Rocketdyne, a division of Rockwell International.

Andrews worked for Rocketdyne for about 15 years. Kirby worked there for 40 years, retiring at age 65 and served as UAW president for 18 years. Rocketdyne eventually became Teledyne as the focus shifted from rockets to jets. Over the years, it became Sabreliner and Premier Turbines, which closed in 2015.

"The plant (building) is still there," Andrews said. "I imagine a lot of the equipment is, too."

Kirby also remembers. "It's gone forever except for the memories."

In his heyday, Rocketdyne employed more than a thousand. Neosho residents also remember the Rocketdyne area because sonic booms were common.

"It was really something to be that close," Andrews recalls from his test engineer days. "It would shake the ground, rattle the windows and rearrange the pictures on the wall." Those effects were experienced throughout Neosho.

"It was a good program," Kirby remembered. "It was a boost for Neosho. When it first started up, farmers thought that their chickens would quit laying eggs and the cows would quit giving milk. Of course, that didn't happen."

Rocketdyne put Neosho on the map and as Dobbs recalled, it also made the town a potential target.

She remembers having drills in school to be prepared in the event of a nuclear attack and field trips to what was then a Civil Defense Cave near Neosho.

Both men recall their Rocketdyne years as positive.

"They were an excellent company to work for," Kirby said. "They were all down to earth. It made good memories. I'm 87 - I'm still enjoying life."

Kirby in later years also drove a Neosho School bus. "I'm a man of many talents and master of none," he said with a laugh.

"I do know that the thing that's most impressive to me is that they picked Rocketdyne Neosho to do the work," Andrews said. "They chose a whole bunch of hillbillies to do that work. These guys were a bunch of hillbillies but they were able to build and put the thing together that went more than 200,000 miles to the moon and back Can you imagine the experience for that first guy to step on the moon?"

All of the work was done without modern computers. What computer was on site was housed in one separate room that had to be climate controlled. Most of the time, they just had to figure it out.

A half century later, as the nation remembers, so does Neosho - remaining proud of their role in the Apollo 11 mission.

Local author and historian Larry James wrote a book about the era titled "The First 50 Years In Spacetown USA." The book is a pictorial look at a half century of aviation and space history in Neosho. It is available at the Neosho-Newton County Library. A mural, painted by artist Lawrence Sanchez, that once hung at Rocketdyne now has a place of honor at Crowder College. A historical marker also stands in Neosho's Big Spring Park.

Today, the one-time Rocketdyne plant still stands and the memories of Neosho's part in space history will last forever.