From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle Also on apple books and many other ebook platforms -- Links below. If you enjoyed this podcast, you will love our new book project! Think you've read everything there is about the moon flights? Think again! In 1998, the landmark television miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" was first broadcast. In 12 episodes, it told the daring story of Project Apollo-NASA's program to put humans on the moon. This book provides a comprehensive...
Jul 30, 2020•15 min•Season 3Ep. 2
From the Earth to the Moon: The Miniseries Companion, on Kindle Also on apple books and many other ebook platforms! If you enjoyed this podcast, you will love our new book project! Think you've read everything there is about the moon flights? Think again! In 1998, the landmark television miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" was first broadcast. In 12 episodes, it told the daring story of Project Apollo-NASA's program to put humans on the moon. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed a...
Jul 17, 2020•2 min•Season 3Ep. 1
The Right Stuff (1983) , Directed by Philip Kaufman. Hey Ridley, you got any Beemans? Crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo.
Jul 26, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 4
First Man (2018), Directed by Damien Chazelle. An intimate look at the inscrutable astronaut's Right Stuff'.
Jul 18, 2019•53 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Our take on Ron Howard's blockbuster feature film, Apollo 13 (1995), Starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise. Bonus episode, crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo. Apollo 13 (1995) film Wikipedia page.
Jul 15, 2019•56 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Our take on CNN Films' Apollo 11 documentary, 2019. Bonus episode, crossposted from our other podcast, Popcorn Drink Combo. Apollo 11, CNN Films Link
Jun 24, 2019•11 min•Season 2Ep. 1
The story of the final lunar mission, Apollo 17 , is told as a pseudo-documentary set several decades after the fact. Simulated interviews of various characters such as Emmett Seaborn and flight director Christopher C. Kraft Jr. , in old-age makeup, are included. The documentary is interspersed with the story of early French film maker Georges Méliès ' creation of his vision of a trip to the Moon, the 1902 Le Voyage dans la Lune . Scenes from the original film are merged with the recreation of i...
Feb 23, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Shows the Apollo program from the point of view of the nine wives of NASA's second group of astronauts , from 1962 beyond the end of the program. The burdens placed on them include maintaining a home while presenting a positive image to the news media, shielding their husbands from any family concerns which could affect their position in the flight rotation or ability to return to Earth safely, and comforting each other in the face of tragedy as Elliot See and Ed White are killed. The episode is...
Feb 23, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Scientist astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt , a geologist, persuades his mentor, professor Lee Silver , to train the Apollo astronauts in selecting appropriate rock samples to collect through field experience, rather than the boring classroom lectures NASA has been using. Silver takes the four Apollo 15 prime and backup landing crew members ( David Scott , James Irwin , Richard F. Gordon, Jr. , and Schmitt) to the southwestern desert, while lunar geologist Farouk El-Baz trains the Command Module...
Feb 23, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In 1964, while riding high on his fame as America's first man in space and his expected command of the first Gemini mission, Alan Shepard is suddenly struck with Ménière's disease , characterized by vertigo and nausea. Flight operations director Deke Slayton must ground him, but offers him the job of chief astronaut, effectively making Shepard Slayton's assistant as supervisor of all the astronauts. A few years later, a surgeon tries an experimental surgery which cures Shepard's symptoms, and he...
Feb 23, 2019•33 min•Season 1Ep. 9
This episode covers the perilous flight of Apollo 13 entirely from the ground point of view; the astronauts are only heard on radio. Veteran TV spaceflight reporter Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith) is summoned to broadcast the breaking news of the in-flight failure, as young reporter Brett Hutchings (Jay Mohr) is pulled off of sports to help with the coverage. As the crisis unfolds, Seaborn finds himself at odds with Hutchings' style of sensationalizing its impact on the astronauts' families, and cri...
Feb 23, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 8
The story of the Apollo 12 second lunar landing mission is told by Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean . Bean, the last member of NASA Astronaut Group 3 to fly in space, narrates his experience with the tightly-knit, all-Navy crew commanded by Gemini veteran Pete Conrad , and accepts with humor and grace his responsibility for the failure of the first color TV camera on the lunar surface, and for almost fracturing his own skull by failing to properly secure the Command Module's TV camera before splashd...
Feb 23, 2019•50 min•Season 1Ep. 7
A dramatization of the Apollo 11 first Moon landing in Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility") is interspersed with flashback sequences of Emmett Seaborn's television interview with the crew of Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module pilot Michael Collins . Episode 6 links: Apollo 11 Pre-Flight Press Conference Apollo 11 Launch Apollo 11 PDI to Touchdown from Apollo Flight Journal FTETTM Apollo 11 Landing Scene FTETTM Buzz Aldrin Communion on the moon scene Apollo ...
Feb 23, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Returns to 1961, and NASA engineer John Houbolt 's lonely fight to convince management that the easiest way to land men on the Moon will be to use a separate landing craft employing lunar orbit rendezvous . It then traces the design and development of the Lunar Module by a team led by Grumman engineer Tom Kelly . Covers the selection and training of the first crew to fly it, James McDivitt and Rusty Schweickart (along with Command Module pilot David Scott ), and culminates with their first fligh...
Feb 23, 2019•32 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Depicts Apollo 8 's historic first manned lunar flight, as the redemption of an otherwise strife-torn year filled with political assassinations, war, and unrest. Documentary footage of the turbulent political events are interspersed with the drama, which is mostly filmed in black and white except for scenes aboard the spacecraft and some color newsreel footage. The fears of mission commander Frank Borman 's wife Susan of the possibility of her husband dying in a spacecraft trapped in lunar orbit...
Feb 23, 2019•47 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Portrays the Apollo program's recovery to manned flight after the Apollo 1 tragedy, from the perspective of a fictional documentary team covering the flight of Apollo 7 . This flight is commanded by strong-willed Mercury veteran Wally Schirra , who is focused on safety after the death of his colleague Grissom. Pad Leader Guenter Wendt , another zealous guardian of astronaut safety, is featured by the documentary team. Episode 3 links: Apollo 7 Launch Apollo 7 Launch, different angles, higher qua...
Feb 23, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Portrays the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire from the perspective of its subsequent investigation by NASA and the US Congress. Its effects on key individuals are shown, including Harrison Storms of North American Aviation , Joseph Shea of NASA, astronaut Frank Borman charged with supporting NASA's investigation, and the widows of Gus Grissom , Ed White and Roger Chaffee . Episode 2 links: Apollo 1 Fire News Broadcast Apollo 1 Newsreel Frank Borman speaking about Apollo 1 Fire Apollo 1 Congressional...
Feb 23, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Covers the early years of the United States' " Space Race " with the Soviet Union , including the creation of NASA and the decision to send men to the Moon. Provides an overview of the Mercury and Gemini programs, concentrating on reconstructions of Alan Shepard 's pioneering Freedom 7 Mercury flight; Ed White 's first US spacewalk on Gemini 4 , the near-disastrous in-flight failure during Neil Armstrong 's and David Scott 's Gemini 8 mission; and the successful completion of Gemini with Buzz Al...
Feb 23, 2019•45 min
