posted 11-10-2026 12:05 AM               

Apollo flags, Broadway stars mark PBS premiere of 'We Chose to Go'

Historian John Monsky's passion for collecting flags led him to unfurling rarely-seen Apollo program history as he recounted the first moon landings before a large audience.

On stage at New York City's Carnegie Hall, Monsky was an hour into his narration of "We Chose to Go to the Moon" — a "living documentary" making its televised premiere on PBS on Tuesday (Nov. 10) — when he reached the topic of the fire that claimed three astronauts' lives on the launch pad. Throughout the production, NASA imagery, music from a 45-piece orchestra and band and a cast of Broadway vocalists made the production more than a lecture. What happened next, though, set this performance apart.