On the Anniversary of Apollo 11...

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GeorgeC

On the Anniversary of Apollo 11...

Post by GeorgeC » August 17th, 2009, 9:24 am

I recently watched the documentary, "In the Shadow of the Moon."

Beautiful film!

It's about the Apollo program and primarily traces the flight of Apollo 11 but is filled with the comments and recollections of the surviving members of the astronaut teams that went to the Moon.

Since not all of Apollo 11 was captured in the highest quality color film (much of it was filmed via grainy B & W television cameras of the era to save weight and complexity on the mission), footage was spliced in from other Apollo missions to illustrate parts of Apollo 11's flight.

Oh, and in spite of the fact that Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the second man to walk on the Moon he was immortalized...

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Where else do you think they got this character's name from?

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Buzz, you're the coolest either way!

Anybody that can survive a flight with Homer Simpson has "The Right Stuff"!

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Post by Ben » August 17th, 2009, 2:36 pm

In The Shadow Of The Moon was indeed a very moving tribute to the Apollo missions, but I'd say it was about them all, not mainly Apollo 11.

Sure, that was a focus, this being the 40th and all, but they weren't using the other mission footage in place of grainy b/w...the point of the doc was to illustrate all the missions.

I loved how they went for a three act structure: takeoff, in space, and landing. This allowed them to intercut reminiscences from all involved as they remembered those various aspects, and made better use of the footage rather than keep repeating the same stuff from slightly different perspectives.

A shame that recluse Armstrong wasn't in there, but the recollections from everyone else made it a fascinating and exceptional piece. Very inspirational!

GeorgeC

Post by GeorgeC » August 18th, 2009, 6:55 am

Armstrong's an oddball among even the astronauts.

He was a natural pilot with great luck -- he stared death in the face in several close-calls including the moon landing -- but he's also possibly the worst choice NASA could have made for "first man on the moon." The man is such a recluse that he's done no interviews since 1969!

Unlike John Glenn, Armstrong didn't go stumping for NASA and has been at best an uneven advocate for space exploration.

(Note: There was talk among some of the older astronauts that prior to his death that Gus Grissom might have been the first man on the moon. He was chosen to be commander of the first manned flight of the Apollo hardware. The plan was supposedly to have a Mercury astronaut representative on critical flights. Unfortunately, Grisson was killed in the Apollo I fire and all the other Mercury astronauts were excluded from Apollo flights for one reason or another until Alan Shepard flew on Apollo 14.)

Buzz Aldrin is a lively advocate for space exploration and has done more than his fair share in evangelizing for space exploration and going farther into space than NASA has done so far. He's written more than a few articles and books on the subject. He's also one of the true geniuses among the astronauts and helped develop procedures for orbital rendevous which were critical for all the manned programs starting with Gemini.

I have to admit to a biased affection for Aldrin warts and all. He's proven to be a human being which is becoming increasingly rarer on this planet from what I've seen in my lifetime. I think in all honesty that it is the greatest compliment to him that Buzz Lightyear is his namesake. I knew right away after seeing Toy Story who the toy was named after.

From what I've seen and heard about Armstrong, he just strikes me as a cold fish. Maybe you have to get to know him better personally but he really seems like an odd person -- even by my standards!

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