KNOXVILLE/OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- They are two men who were uniquely inside the Apollo-11 mission. Current WVLT Broadcast Engineer Bob Martin was a photographer for NASA. And retired Y-12 Engineer Paul Wilkinson may not have gone to the moon. But what he helped create in the Oak Ridge lab certainly did.

"After some discussion we decided they had to be seamless boxes," retired Y-12 Engineer Paul Wilkinson told WVLT.

40-years ago today, Wilkinson's Apollo Lunar Sample Return Containers, better known as "Moon Boxes," were aboard Apollo-11, and would house the world's most famous rocks.

"Started out with a solid hunk of aluminum and sized it up and forged it down to the right size. Two pieces. One for the lid and one for the box itself," Wilkinson, said.

Martin spent close to 19-years with NASA; his jacket bares the patches from the missions he worked on, with special thoughts of July 16th, 1969.

"The feeling of everyone I know was involved was really excited. We were really confident that this was going to happen. We learned a lot since we lost our three astronauts earlier in the program," said Martin.

And what may look like an ordinary aluminum box is anything but. The designs had to withstand the moon's varying temperatures.

"We asked NASA are you going to land in the sun or the shade? Well I don't know. Does it make a difference? Hell yes it makes a difference. If it's in the sun it's going to get hotter than hell. Got to be reflective. If it lands in the shade it's got to be temperature controlled.

While Apollo-11 brought us "One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind," it brought both Martin and Wilkinson memories that are out of this world.

"It comes back to the fact that we was making history. The whole country was kinda upbeat you know," Martin, said.

Wilkinson simply said "Hoopidy...hoopidy...hoopidy...yeah."