THERE is something about covering a sports assignment that stirs memories of youth, fresh air, rising early to get some extra warm-up time before the game. Correspondent Peter Range had that sensation in Technicolor as he spent last week with the current issue's cover subject, Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins. Range, like many journalists a night person, had to switch to "Shulatime," which means attending Mass and having breakfast before sunup. "After three days," says Range, "I felt like a clean liver again."

Range was a Little League catcher back in Athens, Ga. He kept dropping pitches because the star hurler threw only blazing fastballs. Athens fans still call that pitcher Francis Tarkenton. Both youngsters were to switch to football, but Range's career stopped in high school. He was a second-string quarterback whom the coach sent in during one game out of a misguided sense of charity. The first pass was intercepted and the unintended receiver easily scored. Range immediately turned to journalism.

Shula did not hold Range's noncombatant status against him. Their long, revealing conversations formed the core of Range's files to Writer Mark Goodman and Reporter-Researcher Paul Witteman, two of our resident football addicts. "We resisted going on Shulatime," says Goodman. "Nights were made for writing, mornings for sleeping and afternoons for watching pro football."

For youngsters at all interested in technology, no development can compare in fascination with the U.S. space program. Among the on-scene audience at the last Apollo launch this week will be teen-agers from 76 foreign countries, chosen for their interest and talent in science or engineering. They are participants in the International Youth Science Tour organized by NASA and sponsored by a number of private organizations, including TIME.

The rest of the world will also be watching the end of a historic episode, and this week we provide detailed program notes for the drama in the form of a seven-part special section on space exploration. One article, reported by Correspondent Leo Janos, discusses how their experiences on the moon have affected the men who walked there. Correspondent Jerry Hannifin described the Apollo 17 flight plan, while Correspondent John Wilhelm assessed the scientific rewards of lunar exploration.

The three people responsible for producing the section--Senior Editor Leon Jaroff, Writer Frederic Golden and Reporter-Researcher Sydnor Vanderschmidt--have been covering the space program for years. They could not escape a feeling of loss now that manned missions are ending. "It is adventure of the highest sort," says Vanderschmidt. "It's one of the few things that raises us above the grubbiness that man seems to be making of much of his life."

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