Story highlights Jack King was a frequently heard voice for space missions

King was a NASA commentator throughout the 1960s

(CNN) Jack King, who as a launch commentator for NASA was the voice of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission, died Thursday, the space agency said in a news release. He was 84.

"Jack King counted down the launch of Apollo 11 and all of us watching on television will never forget his calm, reassuring demeanor," said Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, a former space shuttle astronaut. "Jack was a true professional and helped us understand in common English the complexities of space flight. He was great at communicating what we do at NASA and he will be missed."

King, who was from the Boston area, came to NASA in 1960 after a stint as a space program reporter for The Associated Press. He was the agency's manager of press operations for 12 years coinciding with the boom of the space race, when the United States was determined to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

Jack King in November 1969, calling the launch of Apollo 12.

Apollo 11 achieved that goal on July 20, 1969.

In an interview with "Spaceflight Now" in 2009, King recalled those years, which ranged from secret test flights to the Apollo missions, seen by hundreds of millions all over the planet.