Within the next few days, millions of people are expected to gather around the Kennedy Space Center and their televisions to watch NASA’s final space launch which will air on NBC.

This final shuttle launch will come 50 years and two months after the very first American, Alan Shepard, was launched into space with NBC News’ very own Jay Barbree reporting on it. In fact, Jay is the only journalist to cover every spaceflight flown by US astronauts from Cape Canaveral, beginning with Freedom 7 in 1961, and continuing through to the latest mission, Atlantis in July 2011. Barbree has been at NBC News for 53 years, and this launch will be the 166th space mission he has covered.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Barbree recently about his rich career and stepped back into time with him to reflect on many of his great memories in this narrated slideshow. Check it out here:

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